Kathegala Kanive: Weaving a story of change

Can photography be another medium for trans artists to be proficient in? The Aravani Art Project has tried to give the power of the narrative to the transgender community, writes Supriya Unni Nair

“When we held that camera in our hands, we felt that we had got some kind of power….We are so used to people interviewing us and clicking our photos and capturing our lives on camera.. now the camera is finally in our hands.” Wall artist and documentarian Shanthi could hardly contain her excitement at being able to learn a new skill. And neither could her fellow transgender artists from the Aravani Art Project who were taught to handle a camera and document their lives in Bengaluru, weaving a story in pictures about their connection to the city they live in.

This unusual journey has been captured in a documentary Kathegala Kanive (The Valley of Stories), by 29-year-old Bengaluru-based filmmaker Vikas Badiger. The 30-minute film has already bagged the best documentary award at the Madras Independent film festival and has been selected for the Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival.

The documentary has been made under the banner of Badiger’s company, Faces of Bangalore as an independent project, directed, produced and filmed by Vikas.

“The initial plan was to document the behind the scenes of the project. But I thought the idea of tracing their individual journeys would be educational as well as interesting. Filming was plain sailing as the artists were completely at ease talking to the camera,” he explains. Bengaluru-based Aravani Art Project was set up six years ago as Cis women and Transwomen art collective specialising in wall art. They have taken up projects and painted murals in public spaces in Bengaluru and a host of other cities. Poornima Sukumar, founder of the Aravani Project explains that they wanted to explore photography as another medium for the trans artists to be proficient in, and this project presented the right opportunity. “Till now, it has always been people who are not from the trans community who have so much to say about them, whereas the voices of those from the trans community have not been given a proper platform,” she says. She is hoping that this project would give the power of the narrative to the transgender community. “It is assumed that people from vulnerable and marginalised communities don’t stand a chance to be intellectual or creative. That’s something we need to unlearn,” she adds. Vikas underlines that Kathegala Kanive was conceived to give credibility to the fact that the artists are employable. “We want other filmmakers to see the trans artists’ work through this film, and in turn encourage and include other trans photographers and filmmakers in their future projects,” he explains. The photography project was funded by the non-profit India Art Foundation. Professional photographers from Kanike Studios spent around a month teaching the team of eight transgender artists how to handle a camera. “Digital cameras were generously donated. We taught the artists the basics of camerawork and asked them to shoot. Some clicked around 70 pictures. All the photographs were displayed in an exhibition, and later, some were even sold,” explains Indu Antony, co-founder of Kanike Studios. Kathegala Kanive gives the artists an arena to speak about this project as well as about their own lives. From the everyday topics that they chose to photograph — Cubbon Park, young children, older citizens, trees, animals and even bangles; to people’s curiosity as to what they were doing; to the darker subject of prejudice — their struggles growing up, not being accepted as a cook, people refusing to sit next to them in a bus, refusing to give them a place on rent — the artists don’t hold back. All the artists speak of having to struggle with finding work, and those from the smaller towns describe the cultural shock of moving to Bengaluru before joining the Aravani Project. The Project aims at recognising the strengths in the arts and finding an alternative source of income for the transgender community through freelance art and design projects. In doing so, they also help in developing organisational skills, while advocating social change by raising community awareness in public places.

“Discrimination starts and ends in public spaces. We felt that teaching transwomen wall painting could help them come out of their spaces,” says Poornima. All eight artists are thrilled to have learnt another skill to help them integrate into society. They say that people’s responses have ranged from curiosity to outright enthusiasm. Shwetha, one of the eight wall artists from Aravani speaks for her whole community: “It’s only when we are given an opportunity that we can progress and attain a position in society. All we are asking is for a chance to do that.. that’s all.” Kathegala Kanive had a public screening in Bengaluru on February 6 and will be screened again in the coming months.