Call it a meeting of minds and hearts along gender non-conformist lines. Transwomen-led art collective the Aravani Art Project combines its creative contours with the label Drawn to create wearable art in a limited edition jacket.
“In this collaboration with Drawn, we collected 16 different favourite flowers of 16 different transgender people. Flowers have a big significance in the space of being gender fluid and we love associating with flowers on several occasions,” says Poornima Sukumar, Director, Aravani Art Project, who is committed to changing the way society views the LGBTQIA+ community. She is busy creating safe spaces for the transgender community through the Aravani Art Project, using art as a tool of engagement.
The creative collective has completed over 14 public projects across red light areas, ghettos and slums across many Indian cities, finding ingenious ways of engaging with people from the transgender community and other LGBTQIA+ people to come out in public spaces and feel confident, safe and belonged. The Aravani Art Project is focused on creating safe spaces for alternate voices through art. The streets are a particularly important place to showcase their expression as it is in these public spaces that stigmas abound.
Says Sowndarya, “I chose jasmine as I love the flower, it smells divine. Jasmine flower has beautiful meanings, but I love that it has no caste or gender. People from all genders and races use the jasmine flower for different…
Shilpi Madan for Sunday Herald