Quirky queer art

On the occasion of noted iconoclast Ismat Chughtai’s death anniversary, Tanisha Saxena writes about how the trend of documenting and celebrating queer identity, life, and history was started early but it has today become an integral part of our culture

Mermen of colour by Anwesh Sahoo

Solo, the artist

The sci-fi queer artwork by Solo

I was chattering, oblivious of where my hands travelled. Begum Jaan lay still... Oh God! I jerked my hand away. “ Hey, girl, watch where your hands are.. you hurt my ribs.” — Lihaaf, Ismat Chughtai.

In 1942 when noted iconoclast Ismat Chughtai’s Lihaaf (The Quilt) came out, she garnered widespread attention for the short story which depicted the idea of homosexuality. Today, we mark the 30th anniversary of her passing (October 24, 1991).

When one goes through the straddled vast canvas of gender studies, Ismat Chughtai is many things to many people. Talking about homosexuality, homophobia, female desire, and nuances of the subaltern in the 1940s was a big deal when India was still far from the concept of homosexuality.

Cut to 1991, Bombay Dost Magazine, India’s first Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) publication was set up to provide the community with an exclusive space for writing. Evidently, a lot happened between these two milestones. The 1971 Hindi film Badnam Basti is considered to be India’s first movie depicting a homosexual relationship. It took around 49 years for the film to get its long due appreciation. The 1980s were owned by lesbian author Suniti Namjoshi who wrote books like Feminist Fables (1981), The conversations of cow (1985) and Flesh and paper (1986). The ‘90s saw the emergence of ‘women loving women’ in India. This was when activist and academic Gita Thadani set up Sakhi, a women’s helpline and lesbian resource centre which facilitated cross-country networking between queer women.

“Where words fail, art speaks” — Today we see a flurry of queer art projecting stories of struggle and survival in India. This isn’t new but the magnitude is! Towards the 20th century, this ethos began manifesting in the form of art: artists became emboldened to make art about their sexual identity. The desire to document and celebrate queer identity, life, and history became an integral part of popular culture.

Anwesh Sahoo is a visual designer, technical artist, winner of Mr Gay World India 2016 and a TEDx speaker based out of Delhi NCR who is one of a dozen LGBTQ artists to capture our eyeballs. For Sahoo, it is very important that whatever artwork he produces, should spread awareness but at the same time tell his story as a queer individual. “I love drawing my experience as a fem gay man of colour and experiments with gender. We are a marginalised group of people and it is crucial to me that I rewrite the story that we grew up with. It is our duty as queer individuals who have access to information and a medium like the way I do through visual art.”

The young artist has drawn a number of illustrations and continues to create bold artworks. A recent creation that stands out in his memory is The Mermen series which he also calls 36 days of type. Sahoo says, “when anyone thinks of a mermaid there’s this gorgeous image that comes to the mind with a fishtail, always looking exotic and mysterious. But when people think of queer men they think of them as caricatures, bombing buffoons or sex maniacs and they never think of them as beautiful beings. Hence, I came up with The Mermen series so people should know that queer fem men are also beautiful and attractive.” Moreover, Sahoo decided to draw all kinds of mermen so there are skinny mermen, plus size mermen, muscular mermen and colours of mermen. That’s how the artist wanted to bring in a more positive, dignified and powerful representation of queer fem men.

For Solo, an artist who hails from Kolkata, the palette of representation is unique. She squeezes in humour.

“I make cartoons about homosexuality and gender issues. I have loved comics since I was a kid, so teaching myself how to draw helped me express myself at a time very few other things were helping,” shares the artist. Solo believes that humour helps people warm up to an idea and they may even consider understanding it. Her comic strips deal with issues like homophobia, homosexuality and gender-based violence.

She says, “People are still getting harassed and losing lives. However, thanks to conversations online and offline, things are changing little by little every day. While there’s still a long way to go, we have also come a long way.” When Sakshi Juneja, co-founder of Gaysi Zine established the online blog back in 2011 the idea was to create a platform for communication. Gaysi is a portmanteau of ‘gay’ and ‘desi,’ two things that are still blending in the broader culture. It regularly publishes stories online for, by, and of the South Asian queer community as a means of creating a space to talk.

“The boom in the independent art scene, especially within comics and narrative illustration mediums, is no longer niche. Storytellers, artists, and their work are receiving a lot more focus from mainstream media than ever before. We believe that it is critical to understand what it means to be queer. While people are aware that being queer means being LGBT, we must also understand that queerness is a philosophy, a politics, a sensibility. Via the Gaysi Zine, we hope to continue amplifying individual voices, enabling more people to meditate
on and relate to what it means to be queer,” says Sakshi.