Gaysi

These Colors Don’t Bleed

Jeff Roy — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:45:34 +0000

Last week, inside an old East India Company warehouse-turned cum gallery space entitled Gallery Beyond, the established Delhi art contingent ‘En Gendered’ hosted the long-awaited Mumbai premiere of their traveling, multimedia art tour “Resist”. The exhibition is a self-proclaimed “temporal art intervention and protest” about gender-based violence and discrimination. As part of a “survey exhibition,” the show brings together a diverse array of high-quality visual works from over 100 established and emerging artists, as well as live installations featuring collaborations from some of India’s best-known designers and artists. In addition to the visual works, Friday’s impressive opening also featured music performances from two Delhi-based ensembles and poetry from notable poets and lyricists including the esteemed Javed Akhtar. The visual pieces, absent of their live components, remained available to the public until Monday evening. En Gendered director/curator Myna Mukherjee, the show’s master-mind and master-eye, cites the recent Delhi rape case as having provided the impetus to launch this pan-Indian tour. “While protests are useful to capture the frustration that entire nation is feeling, it doesn’t leave space for reflection. We wanted to have something that would allow people to react and provoke, but also to question, reflect, and really think about it in constructive terms,” she said. “Resist” also represents a new effort to transcend the walls of En Gendered’s Delhi-based, three-story gallery space, spreading the message behind these socially-conscious works of art to audiences throughout India. The show includes a curated portion of commissioned and non-commissioned work from 27 artists and designers including Manish Arora, Arjun Saluja, Satya Paul, Kallol Dutta, and Gauri & Nainika. There is also a non-curated portion of the show entitled “The Wall of Solidarity” that functions as “a visual open-mic” inviting artists from across the world to express their feelings about the rising violence against women and minority communities in South Asia. Since its inception, the Wall of Solidarity has grown to include works from over 100 contributors. Even you can submit your work to be featured in upcoming exhibitions. To submit yours, send an inquiry to them. An India native, Mukherjee lived in New York for over 10 years where she immersed herself in the art scene. After moving to Delhi over one year ago, she strived to bring quality art with socially-conscious themes to India, and founded the group En Gendered, which holds permanent residence in their three-story gallery space in Delhi. “Recently we’ve seen popular culture has been ridiculously irresponsible. En Gendered is an answer back to the notion that art cannot be socially responsible.” The En Gendered space functions as an open platform for established and emerging visual and performing artists from all over the world to raise awareness about issues of gender and sexuality in South Asia through the four disciplines of music, film, performance, and visual arts. For pictures of “Resist” in Mumbai, check out: Flickr

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A Cup Of Coffee

Kairi — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:55:20 +0000

[caption id="attachment_21984" align="alignnone" width="492"] Picture Courtesy : London Art Girl[/caption] To P, You told me you get “too emotionally involved.” You invest too much, I corrected. I said I envied you and you asked me why. I had no answer because I lied. I don’t. I watch you dial your heartbreak. It hasn’t been a minute and you hang up but you don’t let go of the phone. You don’t let go, you fall too hard and you sink too deep. You are that child who carries the bloody tooth in her pocket to plant when the tooth fairy didn’t show up. You believe she will grant you a tooth tree instead. These are the times I want to punch you in the face. Instead I bring you a cup of coffee. You scratch at my silence with “I really shouldn’t trust so much.” No, you probably shouldn’t. And yes, you’re going to do the same with the next girl who saunters in. You would not be you if you didn’t. What is it like to carry all those bloody teeth in your pocket? Mine conveniently has a hole. I wonder if I should get that sewn up. But watching you hold the phone reminds me why I never took to needle work. There’s a knock and you answer with that smile I know all too well. She tells you she can’t stay long but you’re humming a little too loudly to hear. I’ll bring the coffee. K.

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Gaysi Podcast 9.0 : Interested In Funk Mixes?

Fishead — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:56:12 +0000

Fishead : MJ, Chicklet, I make mixes. Deep and progressive house mixes. Some chill-out also. Some funk as well. MJ, Chicklet : Oh yeah? What's that? Fishead : Basically dik-chik but smoother and nicer. And sexy too. Fishead : Can I put em up on Gaysi? Fishead : I'm a bit fed up of Madonna and Jab we Met remixes at gay parties. Maybe other people are too. Also Salman sucks. *MJ goes red and pulls out a stone-age club out of her pants. Chicklet calms her down and puts stone-age club back in her pants.* Fishead : *With big puppy eyes* I'll mix in an EDM track requested by a Gaysi user every month? Plus I'll make nice posters for you. MJ : Ok, but no more Salman bashing. Fishead : Ok. Note - The first ten minutes of the mix keeps it deep, and the funk kicks in after, peaking at about 30 minutes. If you like a track, just throw in a comment and I'll put the tracklist out. **The copyright of all tracks used in this podcast belongs to their respective owners. This mix is solely intended for listening and not for commercial use** [display_podcast]

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Interview : Artist, Balbir Krishan

The Cathartist — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:54:11 +0000

He is Queer, he is daring and he is freaking talented! Meet our very known and famous artist, Balbir Krishan. Q. Give us a brief about this collaboration with Engender and what Resist means to you. Engendered is a New York based organisation which has been working on the subject of gender and sexuality for the last few years. In 2012, Myna Mukharji, the director of Engendered opened a gallery named ‘Engendered Space’ in Delhi. Few months ago, when the horrific rape of a medical student rocked the nation, the artist community felt that we as artists should also protest against such tragic incidents. Myna Mukharji gathered the artist fraternity together for this cause. Today, I feel very proud that I am a part of Resist. Q. Could you tell us a bit about the exhibits and paintings you plan to showcase at Resist. What has been the inspiration behind your work? My exhibit in Resist is titled "The Inside Woman", the fable of Shiva, Mohini and Harihar. There is a very interesting story behind this. The legend goes that once Vishnu took the avatar of Mohini and came to Earth. After seeing Mohini, Shiva was attracted to her. They say that Mohini did not have a womb and that every drop of Shiva's semen is potent. So during the intercourse between Shiva and Mohini, few drops of semen fell on the thighs of Mohini. It was then, that from the thighs of Mohini a child was born; Harihar. My exhibit in Resist depicts this story, linking it with the present situation only. My insipiration behind this painting is the Director of Engendered Gallery, Myna Mukharji. Q. Resist aims at being a voice of protest against gender based violence. In your opinion, what role can art play in fighting social problems? In my opinion, Resist has emerged as a strong protest in the Indian contemporary art scenario. Resist is not only a medium, but it has become a movement. Not only artists but designers, musicians and people from other art fields have come together for this. It is also important that post Delhi and Chennai, Resist has reached Mumbai. Art is a strong medium that can be used to stand against societal wrong doings- to fight. But in reality there are very few protests against gender based violence. There are a few organisations/ bodies who are doing good work on this, but it is important that it reaches the masses. Especially when we speak about art, then these kind of protests are very few and far in between. Artists usually work at a very individual level. There are very few artists in India who are working on the subject of Gender and sexuality; the new generation of artists is working on it. Art has played an important role for a long time as a commentary on the society. Works like "Third of May" by Goya, "Olympia" by Manet and "Guernica" by Picasso still touch a raw nerve with society. Art plays an important role of wake up a sleeping society. Q. Do you think that the Indian society has become more accepting/ open to the concept of homosexuality in art? When people talk about society and homosexuality, the topic is still behind closed doors and they want it to remain like that. So it is natural that the society is not very willing to accept homosexuality in art. People who believe in this subject, are fighting for it as a cause. Every time we come and stand in front of the society in a strong manner, but still they look at us very astonishingly. I am sure there will be a day when everything around us will be normal and the society's questions will vanish. In the Indian art scenario, till a few years ago, the situation was quite different. Besides Bhupen Khakkar, very few artists used to work on homosexuality as a subject. Today the situation is very positive. A lot of artists are working on this subject. This is also important that these artists are not working behind any closed doors. They are in the open and quite literally telling the society that, "Look I am also here, so you cannot ignore me". Q. You were attacked earlier at an exhibition in Delhi. Is freedom of expression becoming difficult in our country? It is true that in India, it is not easy to work on what you think is right. There are a lot of problems. Not only the society but galleries, artists, art critics also suffer from homophobia. In 2011 when I wanted to do my solo exhibition on homosexuality, no one came forward to extend support. Galleries did not want to exhibit my work, art critics did not want to write my catalogue. Some people wanted to buy my work but their families did not want to hang my work in their homes. Some people supported me and when I did my show, there was a lot of protest and caused a lot of loss to me personally. When people realised that I was gay, a lot of close friends left me treating me like an untouchable. Today when I look back, I realise that after the attack I have become stronger and stand by my reality. Where the society is concerned, they were very forgiving but some so called guardians of the society became a problem. For them, freedom of expression meant to create upheaval in the society. Some people in this society want to tell you that you are not even worth taking a breath. Society forgets that freedom cannot be curtailed, it finds its own way. Q. As an artist, do you feel that queer art has become a part of the mainstream consciousness? How has expression of homosexuality in art evolved over the years? Queer art is still quite far away from becoming a part of the Indian mainstream, although the landscape is changing rapidly and lot of good things are happening. There are shows based on Queer art. Magazines are writing about it. There are debates and discussions happening. In 2012, the opening of Engendered marked a new beginning. Specifically for those artists who are working on gender and sexuality as their subjects and for those who cannot approach other galleries, Engendered is a happy reality. But still, a lot needs to change and a lot needs to happen. Society and the art fraternity should change their mode of thinking. We know it’s a long, long process. Q. Any message for up and coming artists? I am not comfortable giving any messages. All I want to say is that work and live life according to the thoughts and values you believe in. Never cheat yourself. Work hard. There is no substitute to hard work. [Resist : Opening on 17 May at 7:30 p.m. with performances starting at 9:30 p.m. at Gallery Beyond, Mumbai.]

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The Queer Front Row With Anupama Chopra

MJ — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:36:36 +0000

Will he? Won't he? Karan Johar step of the closet that is. Now to find out you will have to watch the show "Front Row with Anupama Chopra" on Star World this Friday, 17th May at 8.30PM. Though the show has nothing to do with confessions, and rapid fire rounds...but as they say life is full of uncertainties, and so is that "coming out" moment. So don't forget to watch the show this Friday! And in case you ain't a KJo admirer, well fret not because the show also features our very own Onir, Sridhar Rangayan and the gay dudes from Bombay Talkies all discussing 'Portrayal of Alternate Sexuality in Indian Cinema'. Thankfully in the last couple of years we have produced a handful of Queer content to be proud off, now some may not have been commercially successful but hey...they do make a valid reference point. Yes, but obviously barring the likes of Girlfriend. For some reason I have a feeling that this is going to be one hell of a fun ride! Here's a snippet of what is in store...

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The Koovagam Way

Broom — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:59:31 +0000

[caption id="attachment_21953" align="alignnone" width="500"] Picture Courtesy : Varsha Yeshwant Kumar[/caption]

In case you didn't know, on April 23rd and 24th, Kuthandavar-Aravan Mela (aka Koovagam Festival) came to a close. The festival annually attracts over 100,000 participants, many of whom come from the transgender communities from all over India. Check out filmmaker Jeff Roy's experiences attending and capturing the festival on film in his latest Fulbright-mtvU documentary video installment. In the video, Mohiniyattam dancer Taejha Singh Susheela retells the myth of Mohini (Krishna) and Aravan, the story upon which Koovagam is based.

Koovagam (Part 1)

[In one of his previous posts, Jeff Roy covered Dirty Talk 2.0 and Dirty Talk: A Little Bit. Check out the rest of his blog for these and more stories from within Mumbai's LGBTQ performance scene.]

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Kashish 2013 : Mumbai International Queer Film Festival (Schedule)

Sherlock Homo — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:07:28 +0000

At a press screening on Tuesday, May 14, 9 short films/documentaries from India, America, Cambodia, Australia and Spain were screened for the press. This was a glimpse of what ‘Kashish’ – the Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2013 aims to cover this year.

Kashish opens doors for the fourth consecutive year on May 22^nd, 2013 at Cinemax, Versova. The theme this year is “Towards Change”, and the country in focus this year is China. The festival aims at giving us a peak into the lives of LGBT people from countries where it is not only difficult to talk about LGBT issues, but also make films/documentaries on them. These include Pakistan, China, Serbia, Slovakia, and Iran to name a few. Of course, Kashish’s goal of providing a platform for young Indian LGBT films and filmmakers remains unchanged. This year at Kashish, the two Indian films not to be missed are Urmi by Jehangir Jani and …And The Unclaimed by Debalina. Year after year, Kashish aims at providing LGBT people with a big screen experience of LGBT movies; something we do not see too often in India. Interestingly however, they have found that 32% of their audiences are non-LGBT people; which means that not only are people interested in the LGBT content, but also the quality of films being chosen. This year, out of over 300 entries, only 132 could be picked, from across 40 different countries. Even though the festival spans over 4 days, none of the movies will be screened twice. Director of Kashish, Mr. Sridhar Rangayan hopes that in the years to come, more screens can be dedicated to Kashish so that some films can have multiple screening for the benefit of audience members who may have scheduling conflicts. Kashish is open from May 22, 2013 till May 26, 2013. Cinemax, Versova: from May 23 till May 26, from 10:00 AM onwards. Alliance Francaise De Bombay: from May 23 till May 25, from 10:00 AM onwards.

And here is the film schedule :

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India, No Woman’s Land?

Chicklet — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:30:25 +0000

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Silk to Slim-Sum (Fitness and Nutrition Workshop)

The Cathartist — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:14:16 +0000

So when was the last time you asked yourself what sort of food you are putting in your body? or promised yourself that you would workout but never managed to get up and enroll yourself into a gym? We all think about eating better, exercising and living a healthier life. But do we know what to eat? How to work out? If you don't, its time to drag your lazy bums to The humsafar trust this Sunday to attend the fun filled diet plan from out favourite dietitian Mihir Maher followed by exercising tips and crash course by Rakesh Shetty. If that wasn't enough, we will be exciting your taste buds with the healthiest picks of the season. Be there or be round(quite literally). Place: The Humsafar Trust, 3rd Floor, Manthan Plaza, next to Chakra restaurant, near Vakola Masjid, Vakola, Santacruz East Time: 5pm, 19 May 2013 For any further info, contact Edwin 09029001185

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Interview : Artist, Baaraan Ijlal

Sherlock Homo — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:57:56 +0000

Baaraan Ijlal's work always has to do with gender and queerness in some way, and gives us great pleasure to introduce her to the Gaysi audience. Q. Let’s start with why you chose to be a part of Resist? I find inspiration in the community, and prefer working amid its concerns than in isolation with it. Resist attempts to highlight the dialogue between the arts and the community; which is my work ethic too. Q. What is the subject of your works? And how did choose that subject? My work is about desire, multiple identities within ourselves, the violence that confronts us in terms of norms and disparities. It is also about the care and pain we take to live through all the turbulence as if nothing has happened. This inspires my work. Q.What is it supposed to invoke in the audience, and what do you want them to take back from this? I want my audience to take back all kinds of possibilities from my work. I want to discover something new, each time I see my own work and want the audience too to be a part of a certain infinity. Am i able to do that, is something I ask myself each time I paint. Q. Resist is meant to be an art protest against gender inequality and violence, how do you think art educates/informs society? A canvas is the freest space for an artist; like a blank page is the most empowering for a writer. To use it boldly, truly and emotionally is the creator's prerogative, her search for the self. It is the society that informs the artist, it informs me. Art can transform the point of view of a person in a way that is more effective than dialogue or debate. Society can only benefit from artistic expression. Q. Do you think that Indian society is ready for the depiction of homosexuality, and more importantly transgender issues, through art? Do you find the audience to be generally accepting? There is never a ripe time for anything to happen. 'Society' is ever ready. Things don't happen because somebody is not making it happen. We have to make things happen, Always; in the past, Today, and in the future. Keeping some things visible and some others invisible is actually something of our own doing. From the community to the level of individual, we are the doers. We are naysayers. [Resist : Opening on 17 May at 7:30 p.m. with performances starting at 9:30 p.m. at Gallery Beyond, Mumbai.]

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