Interweaving music with stories written over 20 years, musician and activist Rumi Harish performed a multidisciplinary rendition mapping the city's police stations at the Bangalore International Centre on Wednesday.
Harish wove together eight stories written between 1999 and 2018, portraying a journey into Bengaluru’s history and its people through the experiences of sexual and gender minorities with the city’s law enforcement.
“These stories offer insight into how the city and its people, particularly police stations, see us, whilst exploring the prejudice and violence — all kinds of them — experienced by sexual and gender minorities,” Harish said.
Harish has been involved in crisis intervention and social justice work for queer groups and marginalised communities for over 20 years now. Maintaining confidentiality of particular cases and about 10 police stations, he has attempted to paint a picture of the city through the eyes of sexual and gender minorities by documenting prejudice, violence, gender negotiations and dysphoria they experience.
He also presented paintings of police stations, to visually represent the experiences of marginalised sexualities, genders, and sex workers as he reimagined them.
“There is a sense of fatigue within the community to keep explaining that there is nothing abnormal or unusual about us. We’ve spoken a lot; it is now time for action,” he said.