Queer and Curious

What defines queer? Does the decision to oppose dominant rules in society and not follow stereotypes make someone queer? Or is it someone who has a different sexual orientation? Eight visual artists come together to address the notion of "queer" through an art exhibition, in which they explore questions pertaining to identity, gender and sexuality.

At the ongoing exhibition "Queering Making-I", at Gallery Engendered Space at Shahpur Jat, the artists have revisited the word queer to give it a larger context: of finding alternative forms of resistance to a hetero-normative society. Curator Mayna Mukherjee says, "Anyone can be queer — a single woman deciding not to get married or a woman deciding not to wear pink."

The second part of the exhibition, "Queering Making-II", on display at Abadi Art Space in Lado Sarai, is an attempt to create a "queer museum" where the objects on display capture various moments of queer history. A dwarf-sized peepal tree has people from the LGBT community come and tie threads around it for wish-fulfilment. A baby doll that was gifted by one queer partner to the other was preserved for a child that they were going to adopt.

A series of six photographs titled "Odonil" show artist Manmeet Devgn staring at herself in the mirror. Devgun says, "One needn't be queer to understand the challenges." Artist Baaran Ijlal's works from her series "The trouble with the Red Is" represent transgendered roles.

"Queering Making - I" is on till December 21; "Queering Making-II" is on till January 12.

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