This story is from July 3, 2019

Transgender artists reclaim public spaces through technicolour murals

Bengaluru-based Aravani Art Project has made footprints across the country, as the collective is working to empower the transgender community via canvases of inclusivity
Aravani Art Project
Bengaluru-based Aravani Art Project has made footprints across the country, as the collective is working to empower the transgender community via canvases of inclusivity
Poornima Sukumar and her team of seven artists had just arrived in Srirangapatna when she got on a call with us to narrate the story of the Aravani Art Project. They were there to paint the walls of a government school. “It’s the fourth one. We have already completed work at three schools here,” Poornima said, as she kept talking to the artists in between about ladders and chapatis.
It’s not just any other arts collective that is splashing city walls with technicolour vistas. This is a movement of inclusivity — to give the ‘third gender’ their rightful place in society. From Dharavi and Mehboob Studio in Mumbai, Vivek Vihar Metro Station in Jaipur, Lodhi Colony in Delhi, Sonagachi in Kolkata and Tsunami Quarters in Chennai to KR Market in Bengaluru, this group of transgender muralists have painted the town red, quite literally!
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Giving the transgender community visibility through art

Founded in January 2016, Bengaluru-based Aravani Art Project is making every possible effort to give the transgender community the visibility it always deserved. Through public art and interventions, the project aims at reclaiming the streets, where transgender people suffer violence and discrimination.
“It’s still an untapped field to a large extent. I started this project after closely working with the community for more than three years. It was not a decision taken in haste. It was a calculated yet difficult move. But this project has been a very rewarding experience, so far. Most of these transgender individuals who now hold paint brushes and climb scaffoldings to tell stories aloud through vibrant paintings didn’t even know they had this inherent talent in them when they started off. Now, they are artists and storytellers,” says Poornima, who was a muralist herself, but now spends most of her time travelling with the troupe. “It’s their movement now. I am just a facilitator,” she adds. The Supreme Court verdict on Section 377 has, no doubt, opened many doors, but there’s still a lot to be done to ensure the safety of the transgender community and erase the stigma attached to it.

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What’s on the wall?

From local neighbourhoods to railway stations, the whole world is a canvas for them. These murals reflect a certain theme of strength and perseverance, as they capture stories of freedom, dreams of acceptance and friendship beyond differences. Mostly dependent on grants, they also collaborate with fellow artists, photographers, filmmakers, neighbours, friends and family to take the conversations far and wide. Apart from cities and towns in India, one can also spot their strikingly impactful artworks in Sri Lanka and Nepal. “Right now, we have received a year-long grant from the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), under which a number of new projects will be carried out in and around Bengaluru,” adds Poornima.
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‘This project saved me from slipping into deeper depression’

“I was working with a community radio station, where I used to host a radio show on sex workers. Being gone through that phase in my own life, those stories were only adding to trauma I desperately wanted to get rid of. That’s when I joined the Aravani Art Project. It’s been nearly three years now, and my life has changed ever since. I have been part of pride parades and protests, but these murals speak volumes. It’s art plus activism, which I call ‘artivism’. From Freedom Park in Bengaluru to Kathmandu in Nepal, this has been a liberating journey,” says Shanthi Muniswamy, a member of the initiative.
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Catch a glimpse of the murals at…

Mehboob Studio, Mumbai
IIT Powai, Mumbai
Dharavi, Mumbai
Tsunami Quarters, Chennai
Vivek Vihar Metro Station, Jaipur
Sonagachi, Kolkata
District Library, Coimbatore
Kochi, Kerala
Lodhi Colony, Delhi
Laxmi Lawns, Pune
Freedom Park, Bengaluru
Jogupalya, Bengaluru
Dhanvantri Road, Bengaluru
KR Market, Bengaluru
Jalahalli, Bengaluru
IIHS, Bengaluru
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