Nov 01 2024 to Nov 03 2024 10:30 a.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Mirrors is a creative fellowship encouraging an artistic exploration of masculinities. The inspiration for the fellowship emerged from ‘(De)constructions of Masculinities’, a research study which undertook a critical review of approaches to programming on masculinity within the development sector.

The reflections and challenges shared by various civil society organizations/ unions around masculinity made us feel that there was a need for a more expansive understanding of masculinity, which needs to move beyond merely, reforming the behaviours of boys and men. To this end, we invited 12 individuals from different parts of the country to produce daily ethnographies on how they perceive masculinity in and around them. Given the diversity of social locations, their writings reveal the way in which masculinity is shaped by social differences of caste, gender, sexuality, religion, class and so on. The study made us realise that we have only scratched the surface when it comes to engaging with the vast, often messy terrain, of what constitutes masculinity and femininity.

We believe artistic practice can offer a way of expressing the silences, frictions, contradictions, suppressions, and desires that shape this experience. We put out an open call for applications and received an overwhelming response across geographies, languages, and socio-economic locations. The works you see featured are by the 12 fellows selected under the fellowship.

Artists
Vaibhav Jadhav
Professor of Screenwriting, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)

Vaibhav Jadhav is a documentary filmmaker and a screenwriting professor at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. His work has largely been an exploration of the complexities that underlie the violation of human rights, especially in the context of caste and migration. His core interest lies in exploring new narrative possibilities through engagement with ground reality, collaborations and skill sharing. He has made over 15 short documentary films and worked in the Hindi film industry as a screenwriter garnering an experience of more than eight years.
Mia Jose
Illustrator

Mia Jose (@linesbyjose) is a transfemme illustrator, art director and devourer of all things camp and horror. Informed by trans lived experiences and her roots in Kerala, her personal work is a journey in understanding the intersections of queerness, inheritance and the dialogue between our bodies and physical spaces.
Aslam (of Aagaaz Theatre)
Theatre Artist

Aslam is a member of Aagaaz Repertory and an artist facilitator at Khwāb Ghar, Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin. He has performed over 50 shows. Recently, he directed Chowkidar, a short play at Aagaaz. He is also a state level Rugby player and coach. He has been playing the sport for the last 9 years.
Zainab (of Aagaaz Theatre)
Actor

Zainab is a professional actor and artist facilitator who works with children and adolescent boys through books and arts, as well as  community Library program leader at Aagaaz theatre trust.
Naghma (of Aagaaz Theatre)
Actor

Naghma is a professional actor and artist facilitator who works with children, adolescent boys and girls through books and arts, as well as community mobilization leader at Aagaaz theatre trust.
Manjari Kaul (of Aagaaz Theatre)
Theatre Artist

Manjari (she/ they) is a performing artist, director and theatre facilitator. Their work seeks possibilities of feminist solidarities, explorations of gender, sexualities and memory through personally political lenses.

Aryakrishnan R
Artist & Curator

Aryakrishnan R is an artist and curator based in Cochin. They are currently a resident of ‘Sommerakademie Paul Klee’, a 16-month programme hosted by the Bern Academy of the Arts HKB, Switzerland. Their ongoing project ‘Sweet Maria Monument’ was showcased in various spaces including Clark House Mumbai (2017) and Kochi Muziris Biennale (2018) and Queer Art Festival, Vancouver (2022).

Avinam Manger
Teacher, Taktse International School Sikkim

Avinam Manger is a High school English Literature Teacher at Taktse International School Sikkim. Previously, a Young India Fellow Batch of ‘24 at Ashoka University and holds an MA in English Literature from Sikkim University. As a queer artist, he is exploring art and academia to study indigenous practices through folk literature. He has participated in projects like Constructing Homelands 2021 (KHOJ), Queer’s Writing Room 2023 (The Queer Muslim Project and US Consulate Mumbai). Avinam finds solace and happiness in simple pleasures, such as tea,poems, and meaningful conversations.
Smriti
Artist

Smriti is a 25 year old transman currently based in Bangalore. A first year teacher of socio-emotional learning through arts, he spends most of his time in a den of adolescent tigers, learning together the tales of the jungle.
Aarya Pathak
Filmmaker

Aarya Pathak is an artist, researcher and filmmaker based in Pune. Their focus of work revolves around exploring and documenting cities through art, film and poetry. They are keen on working with the understanding of collective practices in art making.
Dadapeer Jyman
Poet

Dadapeer Jyman is a Kannada poet, writer, translator and a member of the Queer Poets Collective based in Bangalore. He holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics from Karnataka University, Dharwad. Literature, theatre and cinema are his fields of interest. His poems and short stories have been published in leading Kannada newspapers and periodicals and won many prizes. His first collection of short stories, Neelakurinji, Vaishnavi Prakashan, 2021, won the 2022 National Sahitya Akademi Young Litterateur Prize for Kannada, the 2021 Masti Venkatesh Iyengar Book Prize, one of the highest awards for Kannada literature, and was among the youngest, at twenty-nine, to receive the prize, and the Rajyotsava award from Gulbarga University.
Sumit Sute
Artist

Sumit Sute is a lens-based visual artist who grew up in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. He curiously attempts to converge the personal and the political to make sense of how casteist-patriarchal traumas influence emotional inheritance and familial bonds. Through his interactive and web-based photo-objects, he explores these themes. His artistic practice aims to develop a visual vocabulary that acknowledges and struggles with the shame, anger, and anxieties surrounding his emotional responses to intergenerational traumas influenced by caste, patriarchy, and class.
Ektha Harthi Hiriyur
Artist

Ektha Harthi Hiriyur holds a Master’s in Women’s Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and a Diploma in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan. Her work with survivors of sexual harassment and domestic violence has profoundly shaped her commitment to social justice. Her personal experiences have deeply influenced her interest in the intersections of caste and gender.
Kevin Fernandes
Artist

Kevin Fernandes (deemed to be 30+) writes to remember and to forget. Less to remember, more to forget. On empty spaces in his daily planner and mobile phone note making apps. A proud wholly roamin’ Catlik from Mangalore who is embarrassed he can’t speak Konkani, Fernandes earned his keep for many years teaching, or attempting to teach English to undergraduate students. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Art History, University of Bonn, Germany. Apart from being a huge fan of handloom fabrics and silver jewellery, he is often found cooking, baking, quilting, embroidering, stealing plant cuttings, living in double entendre and picking up matchboxes from the side of the road.
Vikas Kumar
Artist

Having worked in the informal labor sector, Vikas now works on issues related to the struggles and experiences of workers. He is passionate about creating content highlighting labor concerns, through media, research and comedy.