Online launch and discussion, on 24 May 2025, of the four writing fellowships, commissioned and produced under the Genderalities4.0 Fellowships. The writers - Anam Kazmi, Diti, Sharvari Deshpande and Vihaan Vee, shared excerpts from their diverse pieces and were in conversation with Shals Mahajan, genderqueer activist and writer. No Country for Muslim Women by Anam Kazmi A series of personal essays countering dominant narratives that reduce Muslim women to this or that. Anam is a writer and editor based in New Delhi. She has a postgraduate degree in English literature from the University of Delhi and has worked as an editor for reputed publishing houses, think tanks and academic journals. Her writing draws on her life experiences and attempts at bridging the gap between the personal and the political. Her articles have previously been published in newspapers and online magazines such as Hindustan Times, The Quint and Writing Women. This is her first collection of essays. Tiposi Finds their Wings by Diti A novella that follows Tiposi, a young gender non-conforming person navigating the complexities of identity, societal expectations, and the turbulence of living in a conflict-ridden region. Diti is a queer transmasculine researcher, writer and activist. Diti strongly believes that their research and activism are intrinsic to each other and uses their writings to express, process and protest. After a post PhD plot twist Diti has found solace in the enchanting world of fiction. Diti finds joy in doodling, exploring the world, savoring diverse cuisines, crocheting through their anxieties and embracing the warmth of a perfect cup of chai. Lost Salad and Other Notes by Sharvari Deshpande The journal of a young aspiring chef who works at a cafe. As they try to navigate through their home and find belongingness in their surroundings, a diary becomes their way of observing, noting, and making sense. Sharvari is a freelance artist and illustrator currently living in Pune. Education in Visual arts and gender studies have pushed me to create works that narrate stories, illustrate thoughts, evoke images and ask questions. I am interested in working with children's books, graphic narratives and writing as a form to talk about city, belongingness, identities. Dear Aai by Vihaan Vee An epistolary novel told through 28 letters written by Surya, a young trans man, to his mother. The letters share his journey of growing up in a small village, struggling with his gender identity, and eventually leaving home to live life on his own terms. Vihaan is an Ambedkarite queer feminist trans man engaged in anti-caste, feminist, queer, and trans movements since his student days. He runs the podcast MasculiniTea: Kuch Mardani Gupshup, exploring transmasculine experiences of masculinity. His writing has been featured in Social Text, Feminism in India, Smashboard, Parentopia, Round Table India, and more. Notable works include Re/imagine Queer Utopias, Dialogue Protest, Andolan Imaginaries, How India’s Brutal Lockdown Was a Calamity for Trans-communities, and Experience of Bisexuality as a Trans Man. Vihaan’s work amplifies marginalized voices, documents lived realities, and envisions futures of dignity and resistance. Shals Mahajan is a writer, activist, layabout, part feline, somewhat hooman, genderqueer fellow who lives in Bombay, but mainly in their head. They have worked on issues of gender, sexuality, caste and communalism as a trainer, teacher and activist, and enjoy conducting workshops on writing with university students, folx working on social justice issues, women returning to literacy, and queer and trans persons. They are the author of several children’s books including Reva and Prisha, Timmi in Tangles, and Timmi and Rizu, and have co-authored No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy.

Preview of a special live musical and spoken word performance by artist and music educator, Urvija Priyadarshini from Hyderabad. Moving narratives on the struggles and contemplations of being a feminist, aptly titled A Feminist in Fragments. First premiered at Kerala Museum, Kochi, February 2024.

Film Bangla, Hindi, English | 19 minutes | Colour | 2024 'In Pannon Mein' sifts through the pages of a woman's diary who has recently begun to write her memoir. As she looks back at her life and some of her memories, the film explores the ordinary act of writing and the value and meaning it may hold in mundane everyday life. Gurleen Grewal is a filmmaker and editor, interested in examining the various structures and narratives found in the everyday. She graduated from the Creative Documentary Course at Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, where she made Somewhere Near and Far as her graduate diploma film. She currently works at the feminist think tank The Third Eye as an assistant producer and video editor, powered by Nirantar Trust and based in Delhi. Credits Featuring: Maya Sen, Bishakha Sen, Oindrila Sen Camera, Sound, Script and Direction: Gurleen Grewal Edit: Gurleen Grewal Translations: Rafina Khatun, Bishakha Sen, Oindrila Sen

Film Hindi, English | 35 minutes | Colour | 2024 With the expansion of mining activities in Jharkhand, indigenous populations are at massive risk of displacement and loss of livelihood, in addition to land degradation, air, water and noise pollution. Tribal women have for long been on the receiving end of economic and political marginalisation and invisibilised patriarchy. Their identities hold powerful stories disregarded by the mainstream. Sitamani Devi, Bigan Kujur and Basanti Saradar come together to reclaim their identity, fighting against all odds. ​Work of a Body Collective is made up of four artists who tell stories from Jharkhand. Astha, a graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication who believes in telling stories of marginalised women through visual documentation; Deepak Kisku who makes films on the struggles of indigenous people; Surmayi Sargam who explores women’s experiences and works to challenge societal norms through the films and Vishal Ranjan who is a director and producer of documentary films, including the award winning Saraikela Chhau Dance. Credits Writer and Director: Astha Executive Producer: Vishal Ranjan Line Producer and Archival Footage: Deepak Kisku Assistant Director and Research Assistant: Surmayi Sargam Director of Photography: Shubham Burtue Editor: Pawan Kamble Sound Design and Music: Ajit Bhasin Additional Editors: Mohit Barla, Robert, Vishal Ranjan Location Sound Recordist: Pranay Kotangle

Film Hindi, English | 35 minutes | Colour | 2024 Driven by the need for education and better economic opportunities, individuals from various tribes confront the realities of being marginalised as they strive to build new lives away from their ancestral lands. This film narrates the experiences of one such growing northeastern community in Delhi. It is an introspective piece, centered on the subtle yet profound exchanges between Dinyu, Rubi, and Yasa — three northeastern women who navigate the complex terrain of work, education, race and gender. Hengam Riba is an intersectional feminist, development professional and researcher with a postgraduate degree from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Proficient in multiple regional languages, her expertise lies in advocating for women's rights, indigenous communities, social media advocacy, and education. She is a recipient of the Laadli Media Award and has served as a fellow with The Bachhao Project. Credits Director: Hengam and Suraj Cinematographer: Atal Pamo Assistant Cinematographer: Kamin Patuk Editor: Hou Hsein Creative Consultant: Suraj Nirmale Transcription: Mamonti Nunisa

Film Hindi | 38 minutes | Colour | 2024 Three women share their experiences of navigating the app-world in a metro city. Their sharing reveals gendered battles as platform workers and the tiresome reality of gig-workers' identities against absent bosses, masked behind their apps. Filmed in the streets of New Delhi, the protagonists share about their door-to-door gigs, the surveillance at their workplaces and the absence of accountability in the urban landscape. Aprajita Gupta is an independent filmmaker and artist driven by her curiosity for novel artistic expressions. Her narratives explore themes of gender, urban and rural migration and technology. The core of her practice draws inspiration from lived experiences and the resilience of people navigating through their lives. Growing up in a small town in Uttar Pradesh, she deeply reflects on personal narratives and takes a keen interest in the nuances of home and belonging. Her student film ‘Jaagte Khwaab’, explores the theme of identity and sexuality, screened at the Dharamshala International Film Festival, 2023. Credits Collaborators: Gunjan, Priyanka, Manju Direction, Camera, Script: Aprajita Gupta Editing: Aprajita Gupta, Aditi Bhande Sound Recording: Geetanjali Kalta Re-Recording Mixer: Sahil Asthana Colorist: Sourav Yadav

Performance Video Kannada | 97 minutes| Colour | 2023 Where and all you are roaming, I say? Why can’t there be a training program for marriage? Isn't eloping cheap and best? Why did the brinjal stand up when I went to the market? Meet Khanavali Chenni – she is either asking questions or being asked questions. Chenni was an iconic character who ruled the Kannada stage with her double-meaning dialogues and sexual innuendo. The play traces the journey of a group of performers who set out on a search for their ancestry - women performers on whose shoulders their work stands. In their search, they hear about the legend of Chenni. While trying to find her, they meet several other actresses who have their own stories to share. Will they eventually meet Chenni? What will they discover? Project Darling is a meditation on female sexuality at the crossroads of censorship and culture. Credits Writer, Director: Sharanya Ramprakash Producer: Prakash Raj (Nirdigantha) Dramaturge, Production Manager: Sridhar R Prasad Co-Writer: Kruti R Purappemane Assistant Director, Sound Designer: Aswin Varrier Lighting Design: Bharavi Music: Rumi Harish, Priyashri Mani and Pardafash Movement Choreography: Matangi Prasan Songs: Siddhartha and Dadapeer Jyman Puppets: Rency Philip Set Execution: Khaju Guttala Sharanya Ramprakash is a Bengaluru based theatre maker. She places her work in the intersection between gender, tradition and language. She writes, acts, directs and collaborates with a range of forms, communities and theatre makers across local, national and international locations. Her work is research based, collaborative and exploratory. She is an INLAKS scholar and Member of the Lincoln Centre Director’s Lab, New York. She is the recipient of the Shankar Nag Theatre Award 2022. Her latest work includes Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Award (META) winning play Akshayambara, Nava (supported by IFA Project 560), Artificial Hells (Taiwan International Festival of Arts) and Malashree Challenge (Goethe Gender Bender Festival).

Performance Videos Hindi | 5 Episodes | Colour | 2022 Am I feminist enough? Am I engaging enough with injustices around me? Am I being too critical or just being performative? Am I pushing my boundaries? Am I becoming comfortably numb? Am I reading enough? What are my privileges? What are the disadvantages of my socio-economic and cultural position? Am I using my social location to amplify ideas of justice, freedom and equality? Am I a feminist when I care for ageing and ailing parents? Am I a feminist when I yearn for a heteronormative idea of love? Am I a feminist when I don a saree, wear kajal and plump up my lips with lipstick? These are a few of the myriad questions that the 5 part narrative and musical performance series intends to address. Through the medium of words, music, rhythm and metre, the subjective process of becoming a feminist is interrogated and expressed, a process which requires an undoing and reconfiguration of the self, an overhaul of ideas, beliefs and values and negotiations with one’s multiple identities and roles as well as with one’s family, community and social, cultural and economic institutions that constitute one’s context. Episode 1. Bas Kuch Aur Din on the dilemmas of care giving. ​Episode 2. Man Ki Shanti on the complex relationship that one can have with religion. Episode 3. Jism ki Farmaishen exploring the desires of one's body. Episode 4. Ache Ghar ki Betiyan on the struggle with the notion of the ideal woman. Episode 5. Naarivaadi! Kaun Main? on one's relationship with feminism. Urvija Priyadarshini is an academic and a freelance musician. A feminist by training and ideology, she is interested in the politics of culture, arts and religion. She has recently finished her Doctorate in Gender Studies from University of Hyderabad. In her doctoral thesis she has explored the notion of women's agency by examining the religious lives of widows of Vrindavan. She has a Masters in social work from TISS, Mumbai with specialization in women centered social work. She also has a diploma in Hindustani Classical Vocal music from Sangit Mahabharati, Mumbai. She is a caregiver for her mentally ailing father and in her free time she likes to teach and make music, cook, upcycle and care for her plants and pets. Credits Writing, conceptualisation and performance: Urvija Priyadarshini Music: Urvija Priyadarshini Camera, art and editing: Apeksha Priyadarshini

Online performance by Rumi Harish, followed by a conversation with Shals Mahajan, at reFrame's G Fest: Celebrating the art and artists of the genDeralities fellowships, Studio Safdar, 01-16 April 2023. A dramatic reading of a play on a voice in transition, through years of training in music and breaking traditions of patriarchy, caste and gender. Journey from A to E and more... A play script developed under the reFrame #genderalitiesproject. Rumi Harish is a queer transman who started learning Hindustani classical vocal music at the age of 9 under Late Pandit Ramarao Naik, and trained for 17 years. He started performing from the age of 11 across different cities in different prestigious festivals and has learnt under many teachers like Pt Yeshwanth Bua Joshi, Pt D.S.Garud, Pt Indhudhar Nirody and Smt. Aditi Upadhya. Rumi is also an queer and gender rights activist based in Bengaluru. Shals Mahajan is a writer and queer feminist who lives in Bombay. They have been part of LABIA – Queer Feminist LBT Collective for the past two decades and have worked on issues of gender, sexuality, caste and communalism. They have also published children’s books including the award winning Timmi in Tangles, and Reva and Prisha, and co-authored No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy.

Podcast Series with Three Episodes | English | 2022 “Northeast” an erstwhile and popular term/category/tag/stereotype that has captured the imagination of all. The question is - where does the category originate? What informs its definition and meaning? And how does it translate into the lives of people who are tagged as “Northeaster-ners”? “Reframing Northeast” is an attempt to revisit the term “Northeast” through the lived experiences, realities, sentiments and diverse perspectives of people living in Northeast of India, the Northeast Indian diaspora across the country as well as persons who are a mixed race of Northeastern and mainland Indian ethnicity. A series of intimate conversations among so-called “Northeasterners'' of diverse backgrounds and regions - educators, linguists, academicians, researchers, activists, journalists, writers, etc., the series provides a rich narrative of personal and subjective experiences. The Chinky Homo Project is a digital queer anthology project that seek to archive lives and lived realities of queer people from Northeast India. Currently, it is co-run by Chhani, Yanam, David and Pavel. Credits Curators: Kumam Davidson Singh, Lalchhanhimi “Chhani” Bungsut, Pavel, Yanam Bage Speakers: Ktien, Samhita Barooah, Viveka Gurung, Nilza Angmo, Romal Laishram Music Composer: Heisnam Shantanu Singh Sound Engineer: Sapam Shankar

Hindi | 2022 O Asifa remembers Asifa, a young nomadic Kashmiri muslim girl subjected to unspeakable sexual violence, torture and death in the name of upper caste religious privilege, produced under reFrame's genDeralities Fellowship. The fourth of a set of four songs titled, गीत ब्राह्मणवादी पितृसत्ता प्रतिरोध के (Songs of Resistance Against Brahmanical Patriarchy). A collection of new songs and music videos that give voice to struggles against the timeless power of brahmanical patriarchy. Devoted to all who have lost their lives in the struggles against violence and hate, they express solidarity with peoples' movements for social justice, dignity and human rights. These are songs of anger, distress, empathy, perseverance, determination and rebellion that bear testimony to the injustices against Dalits, adivasis and other marginalised peoples. Songs that dream of a new society based on equality, liberty, justice and sisterhood. Samata Kala Manch is an Ambedkariate cultural troupe, fighting caste-class-patriarchy and brahmanical fascism through the art of resistance. It performs songs, poetry, street-plays of awareness and rebellion, in protests, rallies and other events of cultural resistance, as well as in community spaces. Credits Music: Asit Sakpal Writers/ Lyricists: Samiksha Morya, Asit Sakpal

Mixed Multimedia Art - Series of Five Artworks Colour | 2022 Created using an autoethnographic approach towards the intersection of gender and disability, Bereft is a mixed-multimedia art project that tries to locate itself within continuums and liminalities of what it means to lead a queer, multiply disabled life. It does so by questioning the expanse of the body - through objects of everyday negotiation, depicting feelings and emotions that lodge both a sense of resistance-endurance as well as that of angst and collective pain. It aims to deliver a visual-tactile-somatic experience through five different artworks, each representing a separate but still very connected set of themes ranging from resistance as embodiment, as reclamation of space- physical, digital and cultural as well as the unique manifestation of identity diffusion, ‘shame’, body dysmorphia and dysphoric experiences with gender, invisibility within the disability discourse, neurodiversity, incapacities, lack and loss of agency amongst many other socially and medically deprived experiences. Natasha/ Taash (They/She) are a self-taught mixed/ multimedia art practitioner whose work ranges from utilitarian, handcrafted art to art positioned at the juncture of gender, disability and design justice. They identify as genderfluid and are a person with multiple physical and psychosocial disabilities, and that informs their work in various ways. Having had a formal education in graphic as well as social design, their critique of the discipline with regards to ableism and inaccessibility is a strong ethic they aim to carry in future works they may create. Credits Concept, Art, Filming: Natasha Chandhock

Film Bhojpuri | 22 minutes | Colour | 2022 In the cast-off capital of Panipat in North India, the history of fabric is fused with that of its migrants. A young textile worker retells the modern history of this city, once known for its battles which changed the course of the South Asian subcontinent. Combining everyday images from in and around the wasteland on a single winter day with personal anecdotes from the lives of those who grew up under the tin sheets in the industrial complex, the film essay ruminates on the memory of clothes and the desires of its female garment workers. Aakash Chhabra studied Producing at Satyajit Ray Film & TV Institute, Kolkata. He is presently a fellow at the International Film Business Academy of Busan Asian Film School (AFiS). He is an alumnus of Locarno Documentary Summer School 2019, Ji.hlava Academy 2021 and Kyoto Filmmakers Lab 2021. His films are about effeminate gestures and small desires, of what is not easily visible and what is left unsaid, hidden in the wrinkles and the creases. His debut short Mintgumri (2021) premiered at the Dharamshala International Film Festival 2021 and got a Jury Commendation at the Toto Award for Short Film 2022. His short documentary An Ordinary Day (2021) won the Jury Mention at the Nagari Short Film Competition 2021 and screened on the channel of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen as part of New Poetic Cinema in April 2022. Credits Concept, Script, Direction: Aakash Chhabra Executive Production: Snigdha Sharma Sound Design and Mix: Sethu Venugopal Edit: Vedant Voice Over: Pragya Jha Translator and Additional Writing: Kumar Shivam

Film Hindi | 90 minutes | Colour | 2022 Laila and Roshni are looking for a house after being evicted from the place they rented. It soon becomes evident that their search for a home is also their ongoing search for a place in this society that wants to keep them away. They have a friend in Sharukh but many of their other interactions don’t turn out as expected. Laila is torn between being true to herself and preserving links with the family she was born into. Meanwhile, Roshni treads a fine line between concealing her identity and living the life that she wants but not without its dangers. As the search for a home continues, we realise it transcends physical spaces and biological bonds. New friendships blossom and help comes from unexpected quarters. Ektara Collective is a film making collective that comprises people from diverse backgrounds and identities who come together and collaborate to make independent cinema that is located in our realities and experiences. We are based in Bhopal, India. Our earlier films have been Chanda Ke Joote (2011), Jaadui Machchhi (2013), Turup (2017), and Hotel Raahgir (2020). ​ Credits Cast: Manisha Soni (Avni), Muskan, Aakash Jamra, Mahima Singh, Tanveer Ahmed, Paritosh, Abdul Haq, Suman, Sudipta Shrivastava, Subham Soldier, Shivani Baj Direction: Ektara Collective Script: Rinchin, Maheen Mirza with Muskaan and Avni Cinematography: Maheen Mirza Assistance: Narendra Pardhi, Pooja Sahu Lights: Akash Yadav, Pallav Thudgar, Raj Rakesh Assistance :Savni, Jheenu Pawar, Kuldish Edit: Paramita Ghosh Sound Design: Bignya Dahal Sound Production: Ajyan Adat, Priyanka Gaikwad Location Sound: Sushil, Priyanka, Pushpa, Priyanshu Art: Kanak Sashi Madhu Dhurve Production: Hassath, Sushil, Geeta Dhurve Songs: Sheetal Sathe, Devnarayan Saroliya, Geeta Parag Anubhuti Sharma, Madhu Dhurve, Priyanka Gaikwad,Sashikala Nananwar

Film English, Kashmiri | 30 minutes | Colour | 2022 The film, through memory threads, weaves together a narrative of what it means to live under unending and recurrent cycles of lockdowns in Kashmir, keeping the Article 370 abrogation communication blockade at the center. Muntaha Amin completed her Masters in Mass Communication from AJK, MCRC Jamia Millia Islamia. She has been long waiting to tell everyday stories of existing, loving and resilience coming from living in the world’s highest militarised zone and from inhabiting the Kashmiri Muslim Woman identity. She wants to be a storyteller in whatever medium allows her to be. She believes when forces are hell-bent upon erasing the wajood of certain communities altogether, remembering and telling one’s stories becomes all the more urgent and necessary. Credits Director, Scriptwriter, Editor: Muntaha Amin Cinematographer: Ghania Siddique Sound Designer: Muhammad Fibin Colorist: Thamjeedh Music: Reneesh Bashir and Vimal Nazar

Online launch and discussion on 14 October 2022. Created using an autoethnographic approach towards the intersection of gender and disability, Bereft is a mixed-multimedia art project that tries to locate itself within continuums and liminalities of what it means to lead a queer, multiply disabled life. It does so by questioning the expanse of the body - through objects of everyday negotiation, depicting feelings and emotions that lodge both a sense of resistance-endurance as well as that of angst and collective pain. It aims to deliver a visual-tactile-somatic experience through five different artworks, each representing a separate but still very connected set of themes ranging from resistance as embodiment, as reclamation of space- physical, digital and cultural as well as the unique manifestation of identity diffusion, ‘shame’, body dysmorphia and dysphoric experiences with gender, invisibility within the disability discourse, neurodiversity, incapacities, lack and loss of agency amongst many other socially and medically deprived experiences. Natasha/ Taash (They/She) are a self-taught mixed/ multimedia art practitioner whose work ranges from utilitarian, handcrafted art to art positioned at the juncture of gender, disability and design justice. They identify as genderfluid and are a person with multiple physical and psychosocial disabilities, and that informs their work in various ways. Having had a formal education in graphic as well as social design, their critique of the discipline with regards to ableism and inaccessibility is a strong ethic they aim to carry in future works they may create. The recording is of the launch of the Bereft Archives (https://bereftarchives.com) and a conversation between Taash and Shivangi Agrawal, a queer and disabled activist based in Delhi, India, currently working as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Associate at Thoughtworks. They have experience working as an interdependent consultant, researcher, writer, advisor and facilitator with an emphasis on advocacy for disability, sexuality, gender, policy, arts, education and accessibility, with local and global organisations.

Online premiere and discussion on 02 September 2022. Film English, Kashmiri | 30 minutes | Colour | 2022 The film, through memory threads, weaves together a narrative of what it means to live under unending and recurrent cycles of lockdowns in Kashmir, keeping the Article 370 abrogation communication blockade at the center. Muntaha Amin completed her Masters in Mass Communication from AJK, MCRC Jamia Millia Islamia. She has been long waiting to tell everyday stories of existing, loving and resilience coming from living in the world’s highest militarised zone and from inhabiting the Kashmiri Muslim Woman identity. She wants to be a storyteller in whatever medium allows her to be. She believes when forces are hell-bent upon erasing the wajood of certain communities altogether, remembering and telling one’s stories becomes all the more urgent and necessary. The recording is of the conversation that followed the online premiere of the film, between Muntaha Amin, and Sandhya Kumar, award winning filmmaker, whose films are rooted in non-fiction and inspired by the desire to make visible the poetry of everyday life. She has been making documentary films and experimental shorts since 2007 and has received grants from India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) and has been an ATSA fellow at ARThink South Asia. She works in Bangalore, India, and is a trustee of Vikalp Bengaluru, a filmmakers' collective committed to creating platforms for documentary films to reach wider audiences.

12 August 2022. Reflecting on Political Art Making, with Madhusree Dutta, Githa Hariharan, Sneha Ragavan and Vani Subramanian, on the launch of the digital archives of Majlis Culture Centre, Mumbai, an interdisciplinary art initiative that worked through the 1990s and 2000s. The Archive showcases/ acknowledges/ houses works from generations of artists. The effort to put the works in the public domain is to make an argument for sustainable forms of collaborative art initiatives and present examples of accessible and playful political art works. Madhusree Dutta: Filmmaker, Curator, Cultural Producer, Executive Director, Majlis Culture Centre (1990-2016) Githa Hariharan: Author; Co-Founder, Indian Writers' Forum. Sneha Raghavan: Senior Researcher and Project Lead, Asia Art Archive. Vani Subramanian: Filmmaker, feminist activist. smallTALK is a series of periodic conversations between artists working across diverse mediums, forms, languages, materials and ideas; discussing common threads, thoughts, challenges, questions and concerns.

Online premiere and discussion on 10 June 2022. Digital Performance English | 18 minutes 15 seconds | Black & White | 2022 Dear Aphrodite is a letter, a poem, an ode to melancholy. Dear Aphrodite is a person in crisis. Dear Aphrodite is an attempt at healing. Dear Aphrodite began as a digital performance and travelled only to become a strange film. It is an exercise in self reflection, documentation and commentary that is hard to define and is not ready to be boxed into a category. Not unlike the creator of the piece, it yearns to belong and yet doesn't want to fit in. More than anything, Dear Aphrodite is the process of looking at oneself, asking important questions, both personal and political. It is not a document of self love. On the contrary, there are too many things which hint at self hatred. But maybe there is a thin line between the two, and the text and images keep jumping from one side to another in search of answers. Disability, body image, love, loneliness form the core of these conversations and yet it is also a love song, a sad one, but a love song nonetheless. Written, performed, shot and edited by Abhishek Anicca. The recording is of the conversation that followed the online premiere of the digital performance: between the artist Abhishek Anicca, and Paromita Vohra, award winning filmmaker whose work explores feminism, love and desire, urban life and popular culture and the Founder and Creative Director of Agents of Ishq - India’s best-loved website about sex, love and desire.

Digital Theatre Performance in 5 Chapters English, Hindi | 2022 Artist's Statement Firefly Women is a website based digital theatre piece spread over 5 days. It is an artistic response to letters written from jail by two young women, wrongly incarcerated under a draconian law and explores ideas of feminist utopia, such as Rokaya Sakhawat Hossain’s short story, Sultana’s Dream. The piece takes you through the letters and the fictional landscape of the short story as they make inroads into feminist solidarity, resilience and hope in these dark times. “2020 was the year of being falsely framed and arrested under UAPA, it was also the year of encountering rainbows in the skies, the polluted skies of the old city, to have found one, even in jail. Now, we wait for a firefly.” - Devangana Kalita in a letter written from Tihar Central Jail, New Delhi, 23 May 2021 Chapters Prologue Chapter 1: Dreaming up Futures Chapter 2: Hum Gunahgaar Aurtein Chapter 3: Un-Caging Chapter 4: The Outside Chapter 5: Songs of Solidarity Epilogue: The Journey Home ​Credits Manjari K | Performer, Director Trishna Senapaty | Researcher Nisha Abdulla | Dramaturg Alia Sinha | Illustrator, Set Designer Neel Chaudhuri | Sound Designer Kiran Naig | Camera Tamanna Chhabra | Therapist / Contact for internal complaints Manjari K is a Delhi based performer, director and teacher. A graduate of the DUENDE School of Ensemble Physical Theatre (2015), she holds a Master’s degree from The School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Some of her latest work includes dramaturgy and performance in Whirlpool a play based on the life and works of George Orwell (directed by John Britton, produced by The Company Theatre). In 2017, she directed and led a month long course in Performance making, 00101010, a devised piece about gender identity in cyberspace, performed by the students of Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore. She directed and performed in UpRoute, a Devised Ensemble Physical Theatre piece on home and exile. Chronicle of a Death Foretold, based on the novella by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, directed and performed by her has travelled to London, Athens, Delhi, Bangalore and Lucknow. Manjari’s work is dedicated to exploring the incongruous, fragmentary, disruptive, off-key and awkward in theatre/ live performance. She is interested in the co-existence of different forms, patterns, languages of movement and speech, and in creating possibilities for intersections, and parallels. Gender, sexuality and memory have particular prominence in her work. Trishna Senapaty is a researcher and poet who is pursuing a PhD in Social Anthropology. She studies the carceral state, prisons and the shifting horizon of anti-carceral organizing in India. A member of Delhi- based theater collective Improper Fractions with whom she works as a dramaturg, she enjoys musing and writing in all its different shapes, forms and tenses. Nisha Abdulla is a Bangalore based playwright, dramaturg, and director working in the intersections of theatre, community, and education. She is the Artistic Director of Qabila where her anti-oppressive arts practice centers the dissenting body-imagination and new writing. Nisha is also a member of OffStream, an artist collective that seeks to build community around anti-caste art. Her previous work includes Mi'raj, Orchestra on the Moon, Ashk Neele Hain Mere, Koottu, and Body Remembers. She is currently working on a performance that explores the listening body as a site of resistance. Alia Sinha is an illustrator, visual artist and theatre practitioner based in Delhi. She is deeply interested in collaborative art-making and obsessed with fungi, ghosts and bees. Neel Chaudhuri is a playwright and theatre director based in New Delhi. Currently, he works with The Tadpole Repertory and Aagaaz Theatre Trust, and teaches at Ashoka University and Drama School Mumbai. Neel recently performed and produced The Morning Broadcast, a set of daily sound musings for the Spielart Festival. His most recent directorial venture is Rihla, an adaptation of Andreas Flourakis’ I Want A Country with Aagaaz Theatre Trust (Delhi). Kiran Naig is a Chennai based filmmaker, researcher and performer. He did his Master’s in Anthropology from the University of Madras and has studied acting at the Duende School of Ensemble Physical Theatre. He directed a micro non-fiction series Stray Stories based on stories from the margins of Chennai. He has worked on a true crime documentary as researcher/ achieve resource for an OTT platform. Tamanna is a psychologist who has been practicing with individuals from diverse backgrounds and across ages for around a decade in New Delhi and New York. Her education spans counseling and clinical psychology and she has worked with organizations to train and sensitize staff. She provides culturally sensitive interventions and is LGBTQ+ friendly. She presently works with college students across the NYC area.

Digital Performance/ Film English | 18 minutes 15 seconds | Black and White | 2022 Dear Aphrodite is a letter, a poem, an ode to melancholy. Dear Aphrodite is a person in crisis. Dear Aphrodite is an attempt at healing. Dear Aphrodite began as a digital performance and travelled only to become a strange film. It is an exercise in self reflection, documentation and commentary that is hard to define and is not ready to be boxed into a category. Not unlike the creator of the piece, it yearns to belong and yet doesn't want to fit in. More than anything, Dear Aphrodite is the process of looking at oneself, asking important questions, both personal and political. It is not a document of self love. On the contrary, there are too many things which hint at self hatred. But maybe there is a thin line between the two, and the text and images keep jumping from one side to another in search of answers. Disability, body image, love, loneliness form the core of these conversations and yet it is also a love song, a sad one, but a love song nonetheless. Abhishek Anicca is a writer, poet and performer. He identifies as a person with locomotor disability and chronic illness which shapes his creative endeavors. His nonfiction writing has appeared in DNA, Times of India, The Quint, The Third Eye, Agents of Ishq, TEL, Mad in Asia among others. His poems have been published in English and Hindi, most notably in Nether Quarterly, Indian Cultural Forum, Gulmohur Quarterly, The Alipore Post, The Sunflower Collective, Jankipul, Samalochan and Posham Pa. He uses spoken word poetry and theatrical performances for disability activism and has given more than fifty performances in festivals and events across India and beyond. Abhishek has a master's degree in Development Studies from TISS, Mumbai and an MPhil degree in Women’s & Gender Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi. Credits Writter, Performer, Cinematographer and Editor: Abhishek Anicca

Performance Videos - Series of 4 English, Hindi | Black and White | 2022 Artist's Statement For generations, we have been witness to sexual and caste-based violence targeted against people from Dalit communities and other marginalised groups. While the ideology that empowers such action and impunity, is one in which upper castes in India ritually, socially and economically marginalise lower castes and women, the violence of brahmanical patriarchy is almost always meted out on the body. Most often on bodies that are female, queer and trans, used as sites for asserting power, entitlement, violence, terror and control. The body of work on caste based and sexual violence mostly presents itself in form of writing or as conversations. ​ Janeu Prompts is a performative series that aims to go beyond oral and written narratives, by centering itself on the language of body, psyche, emotions and feelings that respond to ongoing cases of violence against marginalised communities in India. Each work focuses on one incident of caste based and/ or sexual violence: The lynching of 15 year old Junaid Khan aboard a train, June 2017. The brutal rape and murder of transgender activist, Sweet Maria, November 2012. The public flogging of seven members of a Dalit family under the pretext of cow protection in Una, July 2016. The rape and hanging of two minor cousin sisters in Badaun, May 2014. I use my body in juxtaposition to the Janeu (a ‘sacred’ thread worn by upper caste Hindu men, that signals the pervasive practices of brahmanical patriarchy) to subvert and transform the body from a site of violation to a site of dissent, resistance and assertion. Janeu Prompts wishes to trigger collective memory, response and grief towards caste based and sexual violence in India. Credits Devised and Performed by Jyotsna Siddharth Shot and Edited by Mir Ijlal Shaani Jyotsna is an actor, artist and writer. They are also a Country Director of Gender at Work India. Jyotsna’s practice spreads across institutional building, intersectionality, arts, activism, theatre and development. They have a masters in Development Studies from TISS Mumbai and Social Anthropology from School of Oriental and African Studies, London and a recipient of Chevening Scholarship, British High Commission (2014). In 2020, Jyotsna was featured as 40 under 40 by Edex and New Indian Express. Their work has appeared in Times of India, Hindu, UN Women, The YP Foundation, Feminism in India, Smashboard, Ashoka Literature Festival, Indian Express, Mid- Day, The Rights Collective, Feminism in India, The Swaddle, The Citizen, Spielart Theatre Festival, India Culture Lab, Grazia, News18, Khirkee Voice and Khoj. Mir is a filmmaker, visual and sound artist based in New Delhi. He was the youngest assistant director on Nicholas Kharkhongor’s film MANTRA and worked as a Director’s assistant to Zoya Akhtar and Alankrita Shrivastava. He is currently writing his first feature film.

Online premiere and discussion on 25 February 2022. Original Title: Teuluke Aamar Geet Bur Xuna Pai Janu? Assamese | English subtitles | 15 minutes 34 seconds | Black & White and Colour | 2021 The recurrent nightmares of two Assamese Muslim women interact, overlap, and confront each other, revealing intimate narratives from the lives of Assamese women belonging to marginalized communities over the years in the face of domestic, social, and political oppression. Jebin dreams of a boatwoman who's taken an oath to trudge along her native landscapes, carrying her boat on her back. Fatema recounts a nightmare where she's abducted by a couple of army men, forcing her to reveal the whereabouts of her rebel husband. The recording above is of the discussion that followed the online premiere of the film: a conversation between the filmmaker Mehdi Jahan, and Deepa Dhanraj, award winning filmmaker who has been actively involved in the women's movement since 1980.

Hindi | 2022 Tu Tod Behana (Break it, Sisters!) hails the feminist spirit that inspires movements through generations of struggle, sacrifice, solidarity and victories, produced under reFrame's GenDeralities Fellowship. The third of a set of four songs titled, गीत ब्राह्मणवादी पितृसत्ता प्रतिरोध के (Songs of Resistance Against Brahmanical Patriarchy). A collection of new songs and music videos that give voice to struggles against the timeless power of brahmanical patriarchy. Devoted to all who have lost their lives in the struggles against violence and hate, they express solidarity with peoples' movements for social justice, dignity and human rights. These are songs of anger, distress, empathy, perseverance, determination and rebellion that bear testimony to the injustices against Dalits, adivasis and other marginalised peoples. Songs that dream of a new society based on equality, liberty, justice and sisterhood. Samata Kala Manch is an Ambedkariate cultural troupe, fighting caste-class-patriarchy and brahmanical fascism through the art of resistance. It performs songs, poetry, street-plays of awareness and rebellion, in protests, rallies and other events of cultural resistance, as well as in community spaces. Credits Singer: Asit Sakpal Writer/ Lyricist: Samiksha Morya Composer: Asit Sakpal Video Editor: Ashok Bankar, Rugveda Sawant

Mixed Media Installation holding the stories, experiences and feelings of Pahadi women | 5 sites | Himachal Pradesh | 2021 Garadu is a woolen garment traditionally made at home, especially by the women of the pastoral Gaddi people, belonging to the Dhauladhar foothills in Himachal. Crafted in different forms and shapes and coming to several uses, it has many diverse names and types - gardi, pattu, chadar, langha, etc., carrying in them collective and individual histories. However, the stories and art of the Gaddi community have been slowly disappearing – their lifestyles adversely affected by the market, modernity and other external influences and pressures. As the community is forced to move away from nomadic pastoralism, the Garadu too is becoming invisible. Through our exhibition, we bring Garadu's art and stories back amongst all of us - with an intentional eye and ear, embracing and highlighting women’s work and voices within them. The Garadu is to us, not just a garment, but a symbol – of identity, emotions, lived experiences, an eco-based lifestyle, a sustainable economy, labour, knowledge, art and skill, memory and touch. Pahada Da Laan is our attempt to discover and bring to the fore, the mountain life, the mountain landscape, its changes and the many stories, tales and characters that lay hidden inside Garadu's own story. We are a group of young women living in the Himalayas, nestled in the foothills of Dhauladhar Mountain Range - and call ourselves Dhaarchidi, the Himalayan Sparrow in pahadi language. Our lives are interwoven with mountains and nature, where we breathe, think, deliberate, dream, act and live. Our bodies, work, walks, and everyday lives - all revolve around mountains, rivers, streams, pastures and fields, animals, natural produce, geography, etc. In the past many decades, dominant discourses and narratives, especially around development and the environment, have been dominated by the upper-class, upper-caste, cis-male perspective, while women, people from other genders and sexual identities, dalits along with people of other historically marginalised and oppressed communities are rendered vulnerable to inequalities and struggles. As mountain women we have seen that our presence remains constantly invisibilised, our experiences and voices ignored and our stories unheard and often unspoken. In recognising this, we felt the need for a process where we, young women and people from varied contexts can come together, share and engage in reflective practices about the diverse perspectives of women. Dhaarchidi is an effort to listen into the voices of pahadi women and to have a local dialogue process. We spread our wings to build understanding about issues that affect us by observing, understanding, deliberating and reflecting upon our everydayness and surrounding spaces from different perspectives. ​Dhaarchidi is Rashi Salaria, Manasi Pinto, Bindu, Aditi V, Anjali Devi, Soujanyaa Boruah, Manisha and Aditi Pinto. Video credit | Twinkle Some Special Memories Rakkar-Mohli: 11-19 September 2021 | Alongside the exhibition was a balcony space in the old house where where people sat on mats and did embroidery, drawing, craft and chats together. Paddar: 22 September 2021 | Impromptu dancing that began during the sharing, and the presence of the khaddi, women who made the garadu/chadar. Kandbari: 24 October - 10 November 2021 | The chaddar on which everyone left their handprints, theatre performance by Kahani ki Dukaan, visit by Tenacious Bee Collective women. Ladwada: 20 November 2021 | Movie screening, time spent in the courtyard with chakki and other activities, people who were part of our photo series seeing their own photos. Gunehr: 27-29 November 2021 | Theatre games using the garadu, walking and taking our exhibition to different courtyards and public spaces, and a khichdi night with dadis. Supporting Credits Raksha devi and Paddar Mahila Bunkar Samuh | Paddar village Shyamu + family | Rakkar village Rajat and family | Kamlehr village Salaria family | Sidhbari village Bindu and family | Nain village Indra devi and family | Saperu village Manisha and family | Ladwada village Saroj devi | Kandbari Village Kahani ki Dukan | Gunehr village Jen Hoover (Aana Jana), Syamantak De, Kiran | Trinetra Studio Ishaan, Swati, Sindoo, Shaun, Niranjani, Pratibha, Asanda, Manasaguru, Shakir

Film English | 19 minutes 36 seconds | Colour | 2021 Can trauma be passed down generations? Is reincarnation possible? The film encapsulates an artist’s quest to understand the roots of her schizophrenia, find creative ways to come out of the nightmare of her mental illness, and perhaps seek catharsis through the process of the making of the film itself. Divya Sachar is a New Delhi based filmmaker, writer and photographer. She completed her Masters in English Literature from Delhi University and specialized in Television Direction at the Film and Television Institute of India. Her first film was a short documentary on body images. She has worked as a Screenwriter and Assistant Director in Mumbai. She also writes on films and the visual arts, and has a previous background of being a theatre practitioner and journalist. Credits Script, Edit, Direction, Sound Design: Divya Sachar Director of Photography: Piyush Pal Singh Music: Dr Arwind Thatte

Paying tribute to Savitribai Phule on her 191st birth anniversary, Samata Kala Manch releases "Ti Chalat Rahili" (She Kept Walking), produced under reFrame's GenDeralities Fellowship. The second of a new set of four songs titled, गीत ब्राह्मणवादी पितृसत्ता प्रतिरोध के (Songs of Resistance Against Brahmanical Patriarchy) . Marathi | 2022 A collection of new songs and music videos that give voice to struggles against the timeless power of brahmanical patriarchy. Devoted to all who have lost their lives in the struggles against violence and hate, they express solidarity with peoples' movements for social justice, dignity and human rights. These are songs of anger, distress, empathy, perseverance, determination and rebellion that bear testimony to the injustices against Dalits, adivasis and other marginalised peoples. Songs that dream of a new society based on equality, liberty, justice and sisterhood. Ti Chalat Rahili, the second of the four songs developed under this project, confronts manuvaad, brahmanism and patriarchy rooted in society and the resistance of the Dalit community. Samata Kala Manch is an Ambedkariate cultural troupe, fighting caste-class-patriarchy and brahmanical fascism through the art of resistance. It performs songs, poetry, street-plays of awareness and rebellion, in protests, rallies and other events of cultural resistance, as well as in community spaces. Credits Singers: Shradha Sakpal, Samiksha Morya, Asit Sakpal, Rakhumaji (Sonu) Gaikwad Writer/ Lyricist: Samiksha Morya Composer: Asit Sakpal Video Editor: Prateek Kumar Gautam

"Amhi Savitrichya Leki" (We're the Daughters of Savitri) from Samata Kala Manch's new collection of music videos, गीत ब्राह्मणवादी पितृसत्ता प्रतिरोध के (Songs of Resistance Against Brahmanical Patriarchy) produced under reFrame's GenDeralities fellowship. Marathi | 2021 A collection of new songs and music videos that give voice to struggles against the timeless power of brahmanical patriarchy. Devoted to all who have lost their lives in the struggles against violence and hate, they express solidarity with peoples' movements for social justice, dignity and human rights. These are songs of anger, distress, empathy, perseverance, determination and rebellion that bear testimony to the injustices against Dalits, adivasis and other marginalised peoples. Songs that dream of a new society based on equality, liberty, justice and sisterhood. Amhi Savitrichya Leki, one of the four songs developed under this project, is a tribute to Savitri Bai Phule by her 'daughters' who continue the fight for Dalit women's rights. Samata Kala Manch is an Ambedkariate cultural troupe, fighting caste-class-patriarchy and brahmanical fascism through the art of resistance. It performs songs, poetry, street-plays of awareness and rebellion, in protests, rallies and other events of cultural resistance, as well as in community spaces. Credits Vocals: Suvarna Salve Lyrics: Samiksha Morya Composition/Song Arrangement: Asit Sakpal Video: Asit Sakpal