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Poornima Sukumar (right) |
Can you tell us something about
yourself?
My name is Poornima Sukumar and I am from
Bangalore. I pursued a degree in Fine
Arts from Chitra Kala Parishat and was
also training to become a faculty at The National Institute of Design (NID)
Ahmedabad in the field of Visual
Semiotics for Design Communication. When I returned to Bangalore, I
started playing around with the idea of using the wall as my canvas and that
led to my foray into the world of mural art and graffiti.
‘Using the wall as your canvas’ , that sounds interesting! Could you tell us more about the work you do?
‘Using the wall as your canvas’ , that sounds interesting! Could you tell us more about the work you do?
I paint walls for a living and currently work
as a freelancer based in Bangalore. I firmly believe that art is a great medium
of self-expression while also giving the artist an opportunity to connect with
the society in various ways. In addition to this, I am also a vivid traveler,
and my work takes me to different parts of the country where I try to bridge my
art and travelling by painting walls with people belonging to that space and
community. And this has further fueled my quest to reach out to more
communities and people and intertwine their journey into mine, artistically.
You started your own initiative-
the ‘Aravani Art Project’. What was your
motivation behind this initiative?
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Aravani Wall Art |
What is
Aravani Art Project? What is your organisation's founding story?
Aravani Art Project aims to create platforms
for the Transgender Community creating consciousness and well being through
art, awareness & social participation. Aravani Art Project’s objective is
to organically create a space for the transgender community in the society by
voicing their expressions mainly through visual arts- art as an expression, art
as recreation and the idea that art is available and viable to all. I
believe that this would enable them to access and understand their involvement
in the society and act as a vehicle for them to voice out their rights and
concerns. No change or empowerment is
possible if you do not involve the community and make them part of the process.
Thus, the idea is to involve *Aravanis in the process of creativity and equip
them with the artistic tools where they can express their stories of freedom,
their dreams of acceptance and their hopes of being at par with the society
they live in.
(*Aravani (derived from Tamil Nadu, India) is
a chosen name to remove the innuendo of the word 'Hijra' hence, a non
stigmatized name like that was the intention. The meaning of the term “Aravani”
literally means a person who worships Lord Aravan.)
Aravani Art Project
began as an experiment for me, to know and observe the responsiveness it
creates. It is easy to make a plan, but to know how it works in a community and
in public spaces is something that cannot be measured without doing it.
The experiences after
3 projects in Bangalore and Mumbai collectively was nothing short of a magical
synergy of the Transgender Community, artists and public trespassers. We have
had our shares of challenges, but the immense amount of support that was
received on all the days was remarkable. One cannot expect everything to be a
cake walk considering we want to make a difference by Including the Transgender
community and the rest of the LGB community to gather and want to be a part of
this.
It is close to
impossible for me to imagine if i did not have a strong group who stood by me
and travelled with me wherever the project took us! Sadhna who is the design
head for the walls we design, Roshnee who is incharge of making sure the Logo
is painted and is taken care of, Abhishek Choudhury who makes sure he strikes a
conversation and makes them comfortable being amongst a big group of people.
Karthik Shetty the official videographer of Aravani Art Project seamlessly
mingles with all of them and makes them look so comfortable in front of the
camera. Prathamesh, Deepak, Navin, Divya, Charan, Adrita, Rutuja, Sheetal and
all those magical people who came and helped in various ways. Its wouldn't be
fair to say that something this large can happen without all of them being
mentioned!
The impact of the
project for the transgender community is very positive until now, They
understand the importance of gathering and to work on something together. It is
the first time for almost all of them from the community to paint walls in
Public spaces and especially closer to where they belong. It was a conscious
decision to intervene into their spaces and for us to go there, instead of
finding a wall in famous spots. it was important for me to do so, for their
comfort. The response after the project is usually overwhelming followed by
some happy tears shared by all and feeling so together! This has been a
priceless journey. I can’t wait to do more projects anywhere in the world, just
so we all understand that Humanity, Dignity and Equality matter beyond,
race, colour, sex and borders!
Could you
talk about some of your projects/ art installations and the impact they have
had?
The first project executed with the
community- Aravani Project #001 started with a mural art installation in
Bangalore in January 2016. The aim of the project was to create space for the
transgender community and to familiarize them with Art. The project consisted of painting 2 murals on
walls in the bustling K.R market area.
While we kicked started the installation on
Saturday as scaffolding structure was being assembled and the artists
involved began sketching and marking the walls, Sunday was an important day as
it brought members of the transgender and art community together to paint,
create, interact and open up a platform to discuss and exchange stories with
the artists and with the on-lookers. The day then unfolded into a wall art
installation by the participants who came forward to get themselves painted to
be a part of the wall art. The theme of this ongoing project will be the
term ‘INCLUDE’- Verb .comprise or contain as part of a whole. This extends to
the following themes of inclusion: inclusion in society, inclusion in art,
inclusive to their expression and what they feel about inclusiveness in
retrospect. The idea is not to make Aravanis the subject, but include the
community to be a part of this entirety.
The entire process from when it was
conceptualized until the time when we all assembled at a local bar (which is
where they usually hang out) after the painting was rather an intense yet
heart wrenching process. As the members of the transgender community trickled
in while all of us waited for them to come and join us, the trans* women and
other community members were very touched by how seamlessly they got along with
the artists and did not feel excluded or mistreated. They enjoyed painting together, discussing
the hardships and breaking all stigma attached to them. Thus, it facilitated respectful
and meaningful exchange of conversations for both the transgender
community and the artists.
Why have you
chosen Mural Art/ Public Art as a medium to address the issues and get
conversations going?
To get to the point straight, Wall painting
was the only way I discovered to express myself as an artist. Slowly, I started
painting for communities like children, orphanages, schools. I realized later
instead of me being a mediator, I should let art do the talking. So it was an
experiment to let them paint on behalf of their own community. It was more
impactful and they felt a sense of belonging. When it involves the people of
the community, I wanted to also have a first hand experience of how my own
circle of friends and artists would react. And needless to say it was an eye
opener for all of us this project
facilitated innumerable conversations, helped us break myths and presumptions
and understand their woes and challenges.
Painting or art as an activity is very
therapeutic and relaxing. It breaks all silences and opens up spaces to let go
all inhibitions and engage in small but significant conversations facilitating
personal exchanges.
In the work
you do, what are some of the challenges you encounter and of course how do you
overcome them?
The challenges are plenty the minute one
decides to take a path that no one has taken. I feel as a society we often are
insensitive to the issues and needs of minorities. I find the whole attitude of
how we can be so heartless to people who have been created by nature, and make
them feel so insignificant that they need to fight for the most basic rights
like existence the most challenging. In the recent years, we have seen numerous
discussions around gendered social norms and their polarization. But this
project made it possible for me to realize that having discussions in one thing
but engaging with these concepts towards changing the attitude and thought
processes is not only different but extremely challenging. Thus, my primary
concern and challenge was to instill trust and build that relationship so that
the transgender community is comfortable to engage with and be part of the
process.
The second biggest challenge is to give the
Trans* community their financial empowerment. Most of them come from a
disadvantaged economic background and have had to quit schooling. So I believe
that some kind of vocational training needs to be made available to them to
enable them to find better opportunities. And it is here that I would like to
start providing them some classes/ lessons in English as that would help them
develop their communication skills and build their level of confidence to
express themselves better. In addition to mural art, through my organisation, I
will look at designing and offering other programs to help them develop their
skills and become economically independent.