As we approach the final week of this year’s pride month, we at Abir Pothi communicated with 10 emerging queer artists you should definitely look out for. Their art is not just an expression of their sexualities but also their expressive canvas to communicate their individual struggles and ideologies. With strong strokes and stronger voices, these queer artists express their individuality through the medium of visual arts. On the path of artistic radiance, following is the list of 10 Queer artists we celebrate this year:
Quick read:
1. Parth Pawar (They/Them)
Parth Pawar or @artwalahoe on Instagram identifies as non-binary. According to Parth, their artworks are a way to showcase and amplify their identity. As a queer Dalit artist, Parth follows a strongly political and genderless path by exploring the themes of caste and sexuality. Moreover, Parth is also the co-founder of The Phosphene Magazine (@thephosphenemag)- An art magazine for South Asian Dalit youth. Their job profiles include illustration, art direction and NFT art.
2. Jose (She/They)
In Jose’s own words, their art revolves around themes of gender fluidity, satire and the general horrors that come with living in our dystopia. The Kerala-origin illustrator’s work and style of art pertain to an inclination towards the surreal. Jose, who identifies as non-binary attempts to portray experiences that are often alienated from mainstream ideas. The dark mysticism of their artworks brings out the anxieties of everyday life. You can explore more about their artwork through their Instagram handle @linesbyjose
3. Ritika Gupta (She/Her)
The art of Ritika includes a diverse range of topics. The autistic queer artist says, “(her) art revolves around intersections of disability, gender and sexuality, focussing on concepts of neuroqueer, disabled rest, disabled pleasure, accessibility and inclusiveness”. The artist’s colour palette is dominated by shades of pink and blue with an abundance of flowers and familiar faces. Check out her artwork on her Instagram handle @artistic._license.
4. Ramaa (They/Them)
A lot of Rama’s work revolves around the expression of the human body, mostly in terms of their relationship to nudity. The painter turned muralist turned tattoo artist (phew!) believes in art for the public’s sake, hence, expanding their art into the mural space seeking a big canvas and bigger audience. The artist also creates commissioned murals, paintings and tattoos for clients. Moreover, they expanded their spectrum to tattoos in order to create a safer and more comfortable space for individuals in the male-dominated industry. Check out their art and merch on their Instagram handles @ramaanticise and @rumdoingthings.
5. Aindriya Barua (They/Them)
Aindriya Barua or @huesonmycanvas on Instagram describes themself as a political artist. Their queer Adivasi identity is reflected in their art as they use it as a tool to express their political views in order to combat ideologies pertaining to patriarchy, casteism and cis-gendered heteronormativity. The versatility of the TOI featured artist is reflected in their diverse range of work as they are also a Machine Learning Engineer who is the founder of ShhorAI-a start-up for hate-speech detection AI bot.
6. Ayushi Kukadia (They/Them)
Ayushi Kukadia or @butch_bean on Instagram treats their art as a solace to explore and seek more comfortability with their queerness. They describe their style of art as “varied” as it changes with each piece depending on the particular theme and what suits it best. Their themes are mostly dominated by animals or queer illustrations. It is their goal to work on queer children’s books for better representation of queer kids. Through this, Kukadia aims to combat the alienation and stigma faced by the LGBTQIA community.
7. Deepti (She/Her)
Deepti describes herself as a visual storyteller. The artist who identifies as bisexual has a bright, powerful and playful colour palette. Exploring themes of mental health, conservation, and memoir, along with reflections on her own queerness and sexuality, Deepti draws her emotions- some of which she funnily describes as “brain fart drawings”. Check out her art on her Instagram handle @deep.teee.
8. Aakanksha R. Gautam (She/They)
“I love words as much as I love to paint!” says Aakanksha as they tell us how their persistent habit of underlining phrases resulted in their Blackout art or Erasures. The New Delhi artist aims to create meaning and art out of abandoned books. Every word or phrase highlighted by the artist comes together to form a sentence with its own new meaning. They sell their artwork through their Instagram page @itsartrip.
9. Jeenal Bavisa (He/Him)
Jen or @notyourstraightgirl on Instagram is an illustrator, writer, photographer and an NFT artist. His artworks are predominantly 2D art that follows dark emotions. His write-ups, much like his art, are filled with grim experiences of human existence. The colour palette of the artist is filled with the usage of deep colours and aesthetics each representative of its own emotional journey.
10. Reya Ahmed (They/She)
Reya Ahmed a.k.a. @artofreya on Instagram is a UK-based Indian visual artist. Their chief sources of expression include illustrations, animation, graphic and editorial design. Their art themes are dominated by inspirations from Mughal art and revolve around feminist discourse. The artist has worked on a wide range of projects which include illustration for editorial and literary publications, art curation for festivals, etc. Presently they are working as artistic consultants with The Queer Muslim Project- the largest LGBTQIA+ network for Muslims in South Asia.
By Vaishnavi Srivastava
Vaishnavi Srivastava is a learning writer, a keen researcher and a literature enthusiast. She is a Sub-editor at Abir Pothi.
