Panel Discussion
From Archive to Activism: Queer & Trans* Cultural Work
Image Credits: Sorting through the Queer Legal Collection at Queer Archive for Memory, Reflection, and Activism (QAMRA), Bengaluru. Image courtesy of Marc Ohrem-Leclef (2018).
This event brings community organisers, academics, and activists together in conversation about how the worlds of queer-and-trans community-building, knowledge production and information dissemination, and progressive social change, intersect. The panelists share a unique connection with QAMRA (Queer Archive for Memory, Reflection, and Activism), an autonomous community archive at the National Law School of India University in Bengaluru. Through their lightning talks and a moderated roundtable, they will reflect on the past, present, and future of queer and trans* cultural organising, involving distinct forms of resistance and joy.
*(*) In Trans acknowledges the diversity of gender identities and expressions beyond the binary, reflecting the inclusive scope of this conversation.
Bookings
Kush Patel
Kush Patel heads the Master of Arts Program at Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design, and Technology in Bengaluru, where they also serve as associate professor and course leader of MA Contemporary Art Practice, and as director and steward of the Just Futures Co-lab. Their research and teaching engage three main areas: archives, databases, and interactive digital storytelling; inquiries into queer- and trans-feminist digital technologies and knowledge infrastructures; and social production of space and participatory politics. Their scholarly practice intersects with the fields of Architectural History and Theory; Contemporary Art; Digital Humanities; Public Humanities; Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies; Critical Librarianship; and Critical Pedagogy.
Uma
Uma P is a member of the transgender community with nearly 24 years of grassroots experience in legal, societal, and media advocacy work on human rights and social entitlements of sexual and gender minorities. Her work profile includes generating and editing textual and audio visual content highlighting human interest stories; socio-economic and legal challenges; and stigma and discrimination of sexual and gender minorities in Karnataka. She is the founder director and executive trustee of Jeeva, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on addressing issues around mental health, livelihood and community media for sexual and gender minorities in Karnataka.
Manavi Atri
Manavi Atri is a human rights lawyer and researcher at the Alternative Law Forum, Bengaluru. She works with the LGBTQIA community on issues of self identification, harassment and the realisation of the community’s fundamental rights. Her co-authored works include Asserting Dignity in Times of COVID; Right to Love; Wages of Hate: Journalism in Dark Times; and Criminalising the Practice of Faith and From Communal Policing to Hate Crimes, a report on Dakshina Kannada.
Mira Brunner
Mira Brunner is an archivist and a visual artist living in Bengaluru. She has worked in artist’s archives for the better part of a decade. Her personal and professional interests intersect around ephemera, personal papers, and the cataloguing of unconventional archival items. She currently works at QAMRA – the Queer Archive for Memory, Reflection and Activism.
Siddharth Narrain
Siddharth Narrain is an Assistant Professor of Law at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bengaluru, and the Faculty Director of the Queer Archive for Memory, Reflection and Activism (QAMRA) project at NLSIU. His teaching and research focuses on public law, law and media, human rights law, and gender and sexuality related law.
