Queering Performative Photographs: A New Aesthetics of Gaze and Desire

Photographs: Javed Iqbal, Anna Lynn, Rudra Rakshit Saran, Jaisingh Nageswaran and Tejal Shah Photograph: Javed Iqbal, Launch of Truth Dream photo exhibition. Courtesy Maraa Collective. Bangalore International Centre (BIC), Dec 2021 Eve Sedgewick in “Here and Now” has a haunting line for those engaged in queer studies. She says, we remember our “promises to make […]

If You Cannot Sleep, Call Me

Cities are pulsating with cryptic messages. There are lines, numbers, colors, and words splattered on its walls. Public spaces such as bridges, underground tunnels, and notice boards provide innovative ways of articulating the angst of sex, love, desire, and longing. A question, a scribble, a graffiti on a corner wall can initiate a conversation and […]

Eat, Prey, Love

“Spaces can be real and imagined. Spaces can tell stories and unfold histories. Spaces can be interrupted, appropriated and transformed through artistic and literary practise. As Pratibha Parmar notes, ‘the appropriation and use of space are political acts.’” bell hooks in ‘Choosing the Margin as Space of Radical Openness,’ Yearning: Race, Gender and Cultural Politics […]

The Paradox of Privacy in Public Places

Pyaar kiya,Koi chori nahi ki,Chup-chup aahein bharna kya? ‘Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya’, lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni, Mughal-e-Azam (1960) The Bandstand Promenade, situated in the western suburb of Bandra in the coastal city of Mumbai, is famous for a variety of reasons: Shahrukh Khan’s palatial home (Mannat) at one end; Salman Khan’s Galaxy Apartments at […]