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Our Grant. 

The reFrame Fellowship.

Announcing 5 media fellowships for artistic works
in writing, film, performance, online and installation art.

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Selection process under way. Announcements by early December.

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Fellowship Period: December 2020 – February 2021

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The coming together of people as powerful movements has challenged age-old power structures, norms and orthodoxies, as well as newer forms of violence, inequalities and prejudice. In doing so, our everyday lives as women, trans* and queer people, as also those from discriminated castes, communities and ethnic groups, have changed like never before. But the fear that a truly equal, just and peaceful world could become reality has anti-women, anti-LGBT, anti-minority, anti-Dalit forces, amongst others, circling ominously all around, swooping down in attack, trying to regain control.

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As regressive forces increase their hold across the world, misogyny is spreading like wildfire in India, fanned by a morally, politically and financially conservative establishment, and its merry brother-in-arms, the mainstream media. Countless cases of sexual, communal and casteist violence against the powerful are being buried. Rape survivors are being further victimised and the accused, celebrated. Fear and fragility pervade the air as state and street policing gain ground with anti-Romeo squads on the prowl, fanatically coupling unconventional “love” with the word “jihad”. The spectre of gender neutral laws threatens to take away legal protections for women. Calls for laws to “save” Indian men and families are getting stronger. Women, trans* and queer folks are being pushed back into hostile marital and natal homes by the courts. Despite a landmark judgment that guaranteed legal status and affirmative action for trans* persons, the law re-marginalises them today. Even the historic victory decriminalising homosexuality has failed to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer persons have rights as equal citizens. So much is still so very wrong out there.

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The incarceration of our lives under the Coronavirus pandemic has further fuelled intolerance, untouchability and violence. Living in enforced proximities, isolated from our chosen people and networks, much of our space for living, livelihood, social and political engagement has been snatched away from us, at least for the time being.

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The vortex of negative forces threatens to suck us in. Sometimes we resist, sometimes we lose hope. Sometimes we falter, sometimes we fall. Sometimes we rage, sometimes we celebrate the freedoms, equality, dignity and rights so hard won. The seemingly rock steady foundation of patriarchy, casteism, heteronormativity, binary gender, honour and ‘dis’honour, body and politics, has without doubt, been shaken. We have been stirred into new ways of seeing, living, working, loving, and being.

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If the present moment connects us through the challenges we face together, it also carries the promise of new solidarities, joint struggles and creative imaginations of the future. That is the call we respond to as writers, bloggers, painters, cartoonists, illustrators, performers, photographers, mixed media artists, installation artists, filmmakers, and so on.

As creative women, trans* and queer persons working across media, this is our moment to question, create and deliberate. To express ourselves, to start new conversations, to reach out with what we have to say, to imagine without inhibition, to disrupt notions of what is and must be, with the possibilities of what can be, may be, should be, will be.

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Call for Proposals​

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reFrame invites proposals for the creation of art works on women, trans*, queer lives in these times. The works may be based on lived experiences, struggles, celebrations, transgressions, pain, dilemmas, introspection, humour, irony, testimony, technology, fact, fiction or fantasy. They may be expressed through words, images, animation, film, dance, movement, performance, interactive/immersive installations or other experimental forms. It is our vision that each of the works will speak with individuality, but yet, collectively complement and complicate each other to widen and deepen the conversations around gender in/justice, in/equalities, our past/s, present/s, and  speculations for our futures.​

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Towards this objective, selected reFrame Fellows will join a set of orientation and mentoring workshops with experts on different aspects of the subject, as well as across art forms. During the course of the Fellowship, they may receive further assistance or mentoring from peers in their field/s. Because as artists and alternative media creators, we seek to find ways out of the junction of regressiveness we are stalled at today, with imagination and creativity.

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The reFrame Genderalities Fellowship offers grants across 5 media categories.

reFrame WRITING FELLOWSHIP: A collection/mini-series of short stories, or illustrated tales.

Production Budget: Upto Rs. 50,000

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reFrame ONLINE ART FELLOWSHIP: A series/periodic word/visual-based series, or other digital works.

Production Budget: Upto Rs. 75,000

reFrame PERFORMANCE FELLOWSHIP: A solo or group work.

Production Budget: Upto Rs. 75,000

reFrame INSTALLATION ART FELLOWSHIP: Immersive or interactive mixed-media works.

Production Budget: Upto Rs. 75,000

reFrame FILM FELLOWSHIP: A series/collection of 3 short films.

Production Budget: Upto Rs. 2,50,000

NOTES

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• For the Writing & Film Fellowships, proposals may be for single works or the entire series.

• All Fellows will get an additional Artist’s Fee of 25% of the approved Production Budget.

• The Genderalities Fellowships aim to be commissioned in two cycles of 5 grants each.

• The Call for the second cycle is likely to be announced in mid-2021.

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List of Applicants​

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FILM

1. Ajay T G: Does Goddess Kumhadain Not Have Menstruation?

2. Aman Soni, Maheen Mirza, Rinchin: Transgressions

3. Amit Jindal (Film, Frame & Facts): ‘Women Of Kalichpur’

4. Anasua Bhattacharya: Human Factory

5. Anoushka Rego: Every Vote Matters

6. Anuradha BansalSuttee - A Good Woman

7. Arkus: Blue

8. Assumptha Parthesarathy: Agal Vizhi (Broader Outlook)

9. C.Yamini Krishna & Dikshya Karki: A Room of One’s Own

10. Chetna Verma: An Exploration into Feminist Geographies of Violence

11. Deyali Mukherjee: Inside the Circle

12. Divya Sachar: Lakshmi or A Ghost Story

13. Dur Se Bros: A Little Lace, A Little Light

14. Elamathi: Decode

15. Gyan Shahane: Under the Skin

16. Harsh and Vihaan: Role/Encounter of state in the everyday life of transgender persons in India

17. Harshit Shyam Jaiswal: Chimyta (Tongs)

18. Karry Padu: Dear Ane ikam (Grandmother)

19. Kaur Chimuk, Imran Ahmed: Being In Nothingness

20. Maleeha Zainab: Women in Conflict

21. Masoom Mohammed Hanif Parmar: Aaj Ke Naam

22. Mehdi Jahan: Mother, Can We Ever Return Home?

23. Miriam Chandy Menacherry: Rescripting Herstory, Mollywood

24. Navkiran Natt: Vehde Aale

25. Mousumi Mahanta: Weeping Woman

26. Nayanika Chatterjee: Silence Swept Aside

27. Neeraja MR: Brick by Brick

28. Neethu Saji: Uncomfortable Silence

29. Neha Chaturvedi: Portraits From the Far East

30. Nikita Nevatia: Fit In

31. Nishida Sahir: The Waves

32. Poorva Dinesh: The Wait

33. Priyanka Chhabra: Deboning the dead

34. Priyanka Verma: The Body and The Pandemic

35. Rachit Sai Barak: Palkon Ke Peeche Se ( From Behind the Eyelids)

36. Rahul Kumar Tiwari: Cultural Rituals By Women Voice In Bhojpuri

37. Ratheesh Mullamgod: Amma Mannu (Mother land), Pennu (Women), Kannu (Eye)

38. Ridhima Agarwal: Women and spirituality

39. Rishabh Jain, Fateh Veer Singh Guram: Within

40. Ritoban Roy Burman + Rusha Bose: Shruti (The Myth)

41. S Sai Jagannath Parinita: The Ethnicity of Shakti o’ Sampati

42. Saadgi Gupta: 1) My mother and the camera; 2) The Seven Islands of Bombay

43. Sambit Chatterjee: I Can’t Live Without You

44. Satchit Puranik: 1 – LG, 2 – BT, 3 – QIA+

45. Savita Oberoi: Surviving the Odds

46. Shruti: Parents of LGBTQ+

47. Sivaranjini: Midway

48. Subhadipta Biswas: I Have No Home

49. Sudha Padmaja Francis (Sudha K F): Moothrakadhakal ( Urine Stories)

50. Suranjay: Ranjita or 2-3 things we know about her

51. Transmen Collective: The Unseen Lives Of Indian Transmen

52. Vedika: Away Now...

53. Vidheya Kumari: Women & Water

54. Yalgaar Sanskrutik Manch: Art Film

55. Zalte Nissar: Reframing the Narrative of Women's Soreness

INSTALLATION ART

1. Adil Kalim: Untitled Book Covers

2. Amala Popuri: Sa se Sa Tak

3. Arif Naeem: Where is my Land

4. Ashra Saifi: Untitled

5. Asma Bi: Visible and the invisible

6. Dhaarchidi Collective: Gardu Garden

7. Henri Fanthome: Brick by Brick

8. Ipsita Choudhury: Life in ToxiCity

9. Madiha Shams: To Call God a SHE

10. Oishorjyo: The Anarchy of Desire

11. Parul Jain: Love & She

12. Pooja Kasbe: Radical women from Marginalized

13. Pranav Patadiya: Laxmanrekha

14. Reshma Khatoon, Anshu Jakhar and Jasmine Khan: Choodi Nahin Ye Mera Dil Hai

15. Shshank Raina: Map of Bombay

16. The Oblique Project: Labyrinth

17. Tulika Kumari: Walking With..

18. Varun Narain: The Breathing Kitchen

19. Viswanathan Sridhar: Humans – The Equal Index

ONLINE ART

1. Aamir Rabbani: Wo-Man

2. Aishwarya Iyer: Reflections of Inner Worlds

3. Aparna Nori: Embody

4. Ashwin Tahiliani: Strokes of Emotion

5. Bariya (Riya Raagini and Pratyush Pushkar): Caste-a-spell 

6. Hansika Chhabra: Examples of the Matilda Effect in Indian Science History

7. Isha Itwala: Museum of Diseases

8. Joshua Sailo: Channel 18… And Turn the Volume Up

9. Jyothidas K V and Promona Sengupta (Mo’Halla): Papercuts: A Manifesto That is a Knife

10. Kiran Kumar: Im/material Beings

11. Kokila Bhattacharya: Recreating Mythologies

12. Kruthika N.S.: Let’s Get You Married (Emphasis on the Hidden “Us”)

13. Kumam Davidson Singh: Room of Their Own - A Pandemic Spatial Visual Project

14. Lavanya Ramaiah: Movie Tail

15. Madhushree Basu: No Time to Dream

16. Neelam Wahane: Black Beauty

17. Neelima PA: Shame....

18. Nida Ansari & Pooja Dhingra: Hidden Figures

19. Reya Ahmed: Miniature Women

20. Rituparna Neog: Tale to Know the Self

21. Sampurna Das: Kheta - Exploring the Utilitarian Art Form of Assam

22. Sanjana Ajith: Reclaiming Nangeli from the Savarna Gaze

23. Sanskruti Landage & Sanchi Mehra: Idhar Udhar ki Batein

24. Sayantan Datta: Adding Fuel to Discrimination

25. Shiva Pathak: I Am Not Ready For This

26. Smish Designs: It's a Girl!

27. Uzma M Nawchoo: That Ring on Your Finger is Not Your Cage, Fly.

OTHER MEDIA

1. Ankur Yadav: Zabaan Chalna

2. Vandana Asha: Unmuted

PERFORMANCE

1. Kapil Paharia: Abusement and Amusement

2. A. Revathi: Talking “Dirty”

3. Adrianna Michalska: Untouchable

4. Angel Ratchanya Priyadharshini R, Indirakshi A: The Veiled Rainbow

5. Aniket Chauhan: Intimate Trials

6. Avatari Devi/ Saransh Sugandh: Aai Kachri Bai

7. Bagrudeen M: Born Equal

8. Diya Naidu: Ceremonies of Longing

9. Mahesh Saini: Gum Hai..! (Lost)

10. Malvika Singh: Women at Work

11. Manishikha Baul: Baadi jabo

12. Manjari Kaul: Skin, Blood, Bones and Beyond

13. Maraa: Chu Kar Dekho

14. Matangi Prasan: Dhvani

15. Meghna Rao: Divine Prostitution

16. Monalisa De: Holding My Tongue

17. Monami Nandy: Her Face is Mine

18. Najrin Islam: What’s In A Name?

19. Nikhita Singh: Of Mothers and their Daughters

20. Pintu Das: Under Observation?

21. Rumi Harish: Journey...A to E

22. S. Sekar: Untitled

23. Samata Kala Manch: The Struggle of Dalit Women Against Brahmanical Patriarchy

24. Saumya Jakhmola and Anannya Tripathyi: Myth of a Man

25. Shilpi Agarwal: एक हिस्सा मोलभाव के परे (Ek Hissa Mol-Bhaav Se Parae)

26. Simrat Kaur: She is

27. Suman Kumar Jha: Adivasi Will Not Dance

28. Vidhya Lakshmi R: The Imprint

WRITING

1. Alina Gufran: In This Life

2. Amrita Tripathi: As The Sun Sets

3. Anjana Balakrishnan: Women at Leisure

4. Aquila Khan: Qaafiyaa - The Rhyming Pattern of Words

5. Ayushi Kumar, Anshika Rathore: Project Liberation

6. Geeta Sahai: The Sound of Silence

7. Gourab Ghosh: Three Queer Stories from Banaras

8. Jay Gallera Malaga: WŒ: Women co-Written

9. Kuldeep Kumar: Pardesi Balam and Other Stories

10. Manvi Wahane: उल्टे पैर/Ulte Pair

11. Mridula Kashyap: Dwindling Spectrum: A Collection of Short Stories

12. N. Uma Maheswa: Decode

13. Natalia Nazeem Ahmed: The Sultana’s Dream // Reflections on Patriarchy

14. Nooryaab Nakhat: Night Time Tales for Adult Women

15. Pandies Theatre: Narratives of Solidarities from the Margins

16. Poorvi Gaur: Shade & Shadows: An Anthology of Short Stories

17. Prakriti Project: ETHer – Empowering Them and Her

18. Reeti Roy: Rethinking love, longing and levity : a perspective

19. Ritwik Sailya Dutta: The Beautiful Boy

20. Sonali Khatri: Understanding Widowhood through Lived Experiences

21. Srishti Dutta Chowdhury: Marginal Occupations in Pandemic

22. Subhash Jha: Bulbul Tears Her Own Clothes and Shouts ‘Bachao…’

23. T. Maria Dhanaraj: The Marginalized within the Marginalized

24. Ubitha Leela Unni: Sreedevi and Moodevi