Dear Parijat, as the systems fail and silence grows heavy, I turn to you. Fragile, Fallen, Still Fragrant. Why are we making art in times of collapse, injustice, and grief. Is it resistance? A record? A refuge?
WHAT THIS SESSION IS
This dialogue is a political and creative space for South Asian artists to reflect on:
What it means to create art under collapse
How we carry grief, rage, and refusal in our work
How we hold each other, and ourselves, at the edge of burnout
What stories and tools we want to leave behind for future frontlines
The session will be a facilitated dialogue on prompts around rage, rest, resilience in queer South Asian artmaking, followed by a collective creation of a story wall.
These prompts on which dialogue and story wall will be created are meant to be flexible and grounded in participants’ lives, art, and politics. Some examples:
What are you raging against and how does that show up in your work?
What does rest look like in your world, and who makes it possible for you?
What do you keep creating even when it hurts and why?
What have you built with others in the aftermath of collapse?
What does resilience really mean in a world that keeps breaking?
WHY IT MATTERS
Across South Asia, queer and trans artists are working under state violence, caste apartheid, environmental collapse, and everyday grief. But we are also the ones documenting, dreaming, and holding community through it all. This is not just an artist talk. It’s a collective act of memory, resistance, and mutual witnessing.
Join us as we gather, to not find answers, but to reflect out loud and more importantly, begin.
Date: 2.30pm, 27th September, 2025
Venue: South Asian Playground at Mool, Saket, New Delhi
Facilitated by Gulabi Zameen Team: Sunny Kumar ‘Bozo’ & Ritika Sharma
We were honored to hold this dialogue at this year’s South Asian Playground (SAP), an ongoing collaboration between first draft x Ghartera x Kaalo.101x Studio Kayamai x Studio 6/6 x We Friends of Toto.
Know more of our experience here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQ_aXQ3gTIF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==