Category: Past Events

The Ties That Bind

The Ties That Bind
June 1 – 30, 2024 | Queer Arts Festival


Roundhouse Community Centre | Malaspina Printmakers | SUM gallery | The James Black Gallery | Or Gallery | Fortune Sound Club | Ocean Artworks | VAG North Plaza

The Ties That Bind examines the bonds and complexities of Family, be it blood or chosen, and how Queer communities continue to survive and thrive alongside, within, and occasionally despite, traditional family constructs. From collectives to choirs, from drag houses to dance troupes, from our community art show to the many partnerships we enjoy year after year, QAF 2024 examines the many ways in which “family” manifests itself in Queer and Queer-arts communities.

Full Festival Schedule

Varied Editions

Jun 1 - 30 | Wed-Sun, 12-5pm  | Malaspina Printmakers, Granville Island | Free Exhibition Opening: June 1, 6 - 10pm register Taking its title from the printmaking technique where an artist alters individual prints within a greater edition to create a series of similar, but uniquely distinct artworks, “Varied Editions” brings together a collection of Queer printmakers showcasing the ever-evolving diversity and queerness of the printmaking community. Curated by Cheryl...

Queer Eyes, Queer Lives: 

A photo exhibit of 2SLGBTQIA+ youths’ substance use, homelessness, and resiliencies Jun 10 - 29 | Tues - Sat 12pm – 6pm | SUM gallery | Free REgister This must-see exhibition showcases photography from over 60 2SLGBTQIA+ youth who participated in UBC research studies on drug use. These young artists, aged 14 – 29, have created a body of work that largely centres around identity, substance use, housing, and mental health –...

ArtParty!

Jun 14 | 7pm – 10pm | Gala Opening Reception | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Pay-What-You-Wish | ASL by request register Nothing says “We Are Family” like our annual ArtParty! We kick off our presence at the Roundhouse Community Centre with art, conviviality, and a celebration of our 17th Queer Arts Festival! This evening also sees the launch of our visual art exhibition, CRAWL SPACE, by the 10-member animation collective Flavourcel. Fabulous...

CRAWL SPACE

Flavourcel Animation Collective: QAF 2024 Artists in Residence Jun 14 – 25 | 9am – 9pm M-F, 9am – 5pm Sat & Sun | Curated Visual Art Exhibition | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Free QAF invites the Flavourcel animation collective out of the basement and into the CRAWL SPACE as both curators and exhibiting artists of the festival’s signature Curated Visual Art Exhibition at the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall. CRAWL SPACE reflects on...

Stealth Codes

Transgender Augmented Reality and Poems of Presence Jun 14 - 25 | Augmented Reality | Roundhouse Community Centre | Free STEALTH CODES is an exhibition featuring the works of Angelic Goldsky and queer community artists, crafted in collaborative workshop sessions merging poetry with augmented reality (AR). This exhibition explores digital transgender truth-telling, that is hidden in plain sight, while confronting the absence of queer transgender life affirmation online. Through the...

In Our Gaybourhood 

Premieres online Jun 14 | Podcast | Free Welcome, neighbour, to our gaybourhood. Listen to Episode One of In Our Gaybourhood QAF's first-ever podcast,  In Our Gaybourhood  is a journey through the communities of BC, meeting our neighbours who work towards a world where everyone can be proud of who they are. In its first season, we get to know some of the 2SLGBTQIA+ advocates, educators, and students who help...

Ayibobo III: 

Little Dollhouse on the Prairie Jun 15 & 16 | 7pm | Roundhouse Performance Hall | Pay-What-You-Wish REGISTER Brought to you by Elle Barbara, avant-garde creator and Mother of Montreal’s Idiosyncratic House of Barbara, Ayibobo III: Little Dollhouse on the Prairie is a work of high-octane performance art, merging dance with experimental soundscapes. Drawing audiences into a kinetic and spiritual vortex of pop culture and Haitian Voodoo, Ayibobo III explores...

QAF Community Art Show

Jun 17 – 29 | Tues - Sat | 12 - 6pm | The James Black Gallery | Free Please note this venue is stair access only. Established way back in 1998, the then-named Pride in Art Community Show was the event that started it all. Over the years the name and location have changed, but the spirit remains the same: showcasing and celebrating the outstanding artists and artwork from...

Trace Elements:

QAF Film Night Jun 18 | 7pm | Roundhouse Performance Hall | Pay-What-You-Wish register Join the QAF in the return of our beloved movie night with  Trace Elements , a stirring program of short films curated by Kathleen Mullen highlighting queer filmmakers who consider the highs and lows of familial bonds. Familial ties in all their glory and angst are explored through these films that dive deep into what brings...

On Cuddling: 

A Reading with Phanuel Antwi Jun 20 | 6pm | Artist Talk | W Projects | Free register Photo: Max Haiven Join us at W Projects (555 Hamilton St.) for a public reading of  On Cuddling: Loved to Death in the Racial Embrace  with critically acclaimed artist and curator Phanuel Antwi. Ranging from the terrifying embrace of the slave ship’s hold to the racist encoding of “cuddly toys,”  On Cuddling...

Presenting a Trio of Events that Centre Queer Excellence in Music 

QAF + Vancouver International Jazz Festival Moor Mother   Jun 21 | 7pm | Music | Fortune Sound Club | Ticketed* Get tickets Photo: Piper Ferguson How do you engage the stunning, evocative, haunting gift that is Moor Mother’s latest album The Great Bailout? Only by following the trail of potent verbal and sonic poetry. Only by letting Moor Mother be your guide. Released March 8, The Great Bailout is...

Curators Tour

Jun 23 | 1pm | Visual Art Tour | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Free | ASL by request register Join members of Flavourcel as they give a guided tour of the CRAWL SPACE installation, providing artistic insights and a behind-the-screens glimpse on the nature of working jointly as an experimental animation collective. ASL can be booked for this event. Please email ben@queerartsfestival.com to arrange. Flavourcel consists of 10 artists and animators...

QAF Clothing Swap

Jun 23 | 2pm | Community Event | Roundhouse Community Centre, Room C | Free Do you have under-utilized clothes and accessories? Are you on the hunt for some free, fab looks? Get those old clothes out of the closet and down to the Roundhouse on June 23 for our first ever QAF Clothing Swap! We're looking for clothes that are clean, gently worn, and unscented. Clothes can be dropped...

Glitter is Forever

Jun 25 | 7pm | Closing Reception | Roundhouse Exhibition Hall | Free | ASL by request REGISTER Our familial festivities officially come to a close with friends, music, art — and local drag royalty The Darlings ! Take a final stroll through Flavourcel's CRAWL SPACE, thrill to music courtesy of DJ Ziggy Zaya , and experience an experimental drag troupe that CBC praises as "pushing the boundaries" and "turning...

QUEERING THE AIR — LIFE//LAND::SEASONS//CYCLES//CONNECTIONS

Stay On It: Music by Julius Eastman

Vocal Queeries Workshop Series

Rojina Farrokhnejad: Gods and Monsters

VQFF x QAF presents: The Coast is Queer

Vines Art Festival: We, The Many

ArtParty!  

Sat Jun 17 | 7pm

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Join us as QAF 2023: Queers in Space officially launches into orbit! This year, ArtParty! returns to the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre’s Exhibition Hall for the first time since 2019. Party amidst our signature Visual Art Exhibition, bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out, curated by Zandi Dandizette, while enjoying delicious food and drink, gyrating to the spins of the incredible DJ Nea Stone Fox, and celebrating with the Queerdos of our community!

It’s Art. It’s a Party. It’s the best combination of both.

This event is ASL Interpreted.

bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out

Curated Visual Art Exhibition

Sat Jun 17 – Wed Jun 28 

Mon – Fri 9am – 9pm
Sat – Sun 9am – 5pm

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews

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Zandi Dandizette, Curator

bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out

Free Guided Curator Tour with Zandi Dandizette

Sat Jun 24, 2pm

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews

This event is ASL Interpreted.

Featured Artists:
Eda Birthing
Helena St Tearer
JAIK PUPPYTEETH
Judah Kong
Kale Roberts
Kali Fish
Leby Le Morìa
Levi Nelson
Makoto Chi
Odera Igbokwe
Moozhan Ahmadzadegan
Parisa Rafat
Pastiche Lumumba
Rachel Britton
Raven John
Romi Kim, Kendell Yan & Chris Reed

bumfuzzled monachopsis: innerspace out reflects the uncertain times in which our collective world does not ascertain belonging to those occupying it. Our parallel universes of experience, never quite overlapping, seeking out an idealized community, that “me-shaped” hole in which inclusion is touted. A confused subtle space of emotion as the external world points at what we are and who we are, yet never quite where we are welcome to be. 

The present state in which queer artists take up space, share space, and embody the ownership of it. Sharing our inner worlds out visually via developed characters, worlds, or visual language that provides safety in exploring identity or the relation to the spaces around them. 

Zandi Dandizette’s curation asks viewers to “wander the maze of our hearts and open them to the multiplicity of being.” We are not a homogenized whole, but many individuals all seeking that future space in which belonging can be achieved. 

Zandi Dandizette, QAF 2023 Visual Art Exhibition guest curator

Zandi Dandizette is a nonbinary settler-immigrant interdisciplinary arts and cultural worker that likens their medium as space whether 2D, 3D, or 4D. Their work vacillates between focus shifts on identity, dis/connection, and collective problem solving. Zandi’s practice attempts to investigate and share the lessons they’ve absorbed in navigating the complexity of existence by utilizing repeating shape and colour motifs.  Zandi has a BMA in Animation (2014) from Emily Carr University and has shown varied new media and installation works over the last decade across Canada and internationally. They balance their artistic practice with supporting arts advocacy and community building. Zandi Dandizette co-founded and leads The James Black Gallery (2014) which is located on the stolen unceded ancestral lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. They are a current board member of CARFAC National, and chartering member of the Arts and Cultural Workers Union (ACWU local 778-B).  

Cosmic Connections: Queer Indigenous Astronomy (A View From Above and Below)

 Preston Buffalo AR works

Sat Jun 17 – Wed Jun 28

9am to 9pm daily

Roundhouse Exhibition Hall – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Augmented Reality artist Preston Buffalo secretly brings the Roundhouse to life with Indigiqueer pasts and futures – including a creation story of how the Cree People originated from the Pleiades star cluster. Buffalo’s AR images are invisible and inaudible to the naked eye and ear – but revealed when your phone scans a QR code! Presented in partnership with Little Chamber Music. 

Preston Buffalo

Preston Buffalo (he/him) is a Two-Spirited Cree man residing in the unceded Coast Salish Territories in British Columbia. His interdisciplinary practice is centred around exploring personal Indigenous iconography and symbolism through the use of photography, alternative photo processes, digital illustration and AR. Preston’s work is informed by pressing issues faced by Indigenous communities, including mental health, harm reduction, loss of culture and language resulting from displacement and the residential school system. By intersecting traditional material practice with contemporary techniques, his work seeks to challenge viewers’ perceptions of contemporary Indigenous Identity.

Love After the End: Joshua Whitehead & Friends

QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists

Sun Jun 18 | 3pm 

Free cinq-à-sept reception to follow at 5pm

Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Joshua Whitehead, Curator

Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction is an exciting and ground-breaking fiction collection showcasing a number of new and emerging Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer writers from across Turtle Island, edited and compiled by renowned author Joshua Whitehead. Whitehead joins us along with fellow visionary Indigenous authors and anthology contributors for a literary event demonstrating how queer Indigenous communities can bloom and thrive through utopian narratives.

While this event is ticketed, the cinq-à-sept reception that follows at 5pm is free and open to all. This reception takes place in the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall and features a book signing with the participating authors, presented in partnership with Massy Books, and DJ set by DJ Kota, courtesy of Full Circle: First Nations Performance. 

These two events are part of a day-long trilogy of events celebrating Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer artists. Please see Virago Nation Burlesque for our 7pm event.

Featured Artists:

jaye simpson

Joshua Whitehead

Nathan Adler

Nazbah Tom

Joshua Whitehead

Joshua Whitehead (he/him) is a Two-Spirit, Oji-nêhiyaw member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary where he is housed in the departments of English and International Indigenous Studies (Treaty 7).

He is the author of full-metal indigiqueer (Talonbooks 2017) which was shortlisted for the inaugural Indigenous Voices Award and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. He is also the author of Jonny Appleseed (Arsenal Pulp Press 2018) which was long listed for the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Indigenous Voices Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, and won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction, the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and Canada Reads 2021.

Whitehead is the editor of Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, which won the Lambda Award in 2021.

Whitehead’s latest book Making Love with the Land was published in 2022 with Knopf Canada, exploring the intersections of Indigeneity, queerness, and, most prominently, mental health through a nêhiyaw lens. The book was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Award for Nonfiction.

Nazbah Tom

Nazbah Tom (Diné), somatic practitioner/poet. They are published in Lambda Literary Award winner Love After The End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction. As a somatic practitioner they use conversation, breath work, gestural work, bodywork, and somatic skills to guide groups through a process of embodied transformation.

Nathan Adler

Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler (he/they) is the author of Wrist, a windigo story written from the monster’s perspective, and Ghost Lake, an inter-connected collection of short stories (both published by Kegedonce Press), and co-editor of a dream-themed anthology of Indigenous writers called Bawaajigan ~ Stories of Power (Exile Editions). Nathan has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, a BFA in Integrated Media from OCAD, and a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Native Studies from Trent University. He is recipient of an Indigenous Voices Award for prose, a Hnatyshyn Reveal award for literature, and first-place winner of an Aboriginal Writing Challenge for poetry. His writing has also appeared in various magazines, websites, and anthologies (Exile, Bedside Press, Arsenal Pulp Press). He is Jewish and Anishinaabe, Two Spirit, and a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation.

jaye simpson

jaye simpson (she/they) is an Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer from the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation. simpson is a writer, advocate and activist sharing their knowledge and lived experiences in hope of creating utopia. she is published in several magazines including Poetry Is Dead, This Magazine, PRISM international,  SAD Magazine: Green, GUTS Magazine, SubTerrain, Grain and Room. They are in four anthologies: Hustling Verse (2019), Love After the End (2020), The Care We Dream Of (2021), and Queer Little Nightmares (2022). Their first poetry collection, it was never going to be okay (Nightwood Ed.) was shortlisted for the 2021 ReLit Award and a 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize Finalist and won the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Published Poetry in English. Their next collection of poetry, a body more tolerable, is forthcoming Fall 2024.

Virago Nation Burlesque

QAF + Talking Stick Festival: a day in celebration of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Artists

Sun Jun 18 | 7pm

Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Our day-long slate of events centred on Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer art concludes with breathtaking burlesque brought to you by the badass babes of Virago Nation, Turtle Island’s first all-indigenous burlesque collective! A festival favourite of the virtual QAF 2020: Wicked, Virago Nation returns with a brand new, in-the-flesh performance exploring the many facets of indigenous sexual rematriation, with special guest Continental Breakfast!

Virago Nation reminds viewers to embrace their EXTRA and that heteronormativity is inherently colonial and that queerness is a gift to be celebrated! Their message is consistent, loud & clear—colonial and patriarchal ideologies have no place here. Using storytelling, comedy, pop culture, and striptease, Virago Nation continues to show that Indigenous sexuality is multi-faceted, dynamic, powerful and an experience that is deeply personal.

Please note: this performance is 18+.

This event are part of a day-long trilogy of events celebrating Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer artists presented in partnership with Full Circle: First Nations Performance. Please see Love After the End: Joshua Whitehead & Friends for our 3pm & 5pm events.

Performer Bios 

Shane Sable  “Mover, Shaker, Mischief Maker; the Furiously Flirtatious Force of Nature”

 2Spirit Gitxsan artist and activist Shane Sable has slayed stages all over Vancouver in front of and behind the scenes since 2011. Shane has an abiding hunger for audience engagement and delights in the tension created by breaking the 4th wall of burlesque. Shane is the convening member of Virago Nation – Turtle Island’s first all-indigenous burlesque collective.

Instagram: @shanesable

RainbowGlitz is one of Virago’s Nations founding members and Vancouvers Rainbow Slut spreading her love medicine in a mix of classic, nerdlesque, exotic dance and pussy cat doll hip hop movements. This Haida, Squamish, Musqueam and black artist will leave you wanting to throw your gold at the end of her rainbow.

Instagram: @therainbowglitz22

Scarlet Delirium: Vancouver BC’s Raven Goddess! The Kwakiutl Indigi-Babe! Scarlet Delirium has been enjoying the slow burn of Burlesque and Cabaret since 2010 and is a founding member of Virago Nation. During the daylight hours doubles as Costume Designer for herself and her Burlesque family.  

Instagram: @scarlet_delirium

Manda Stroyer: Indigibabe Manda Stroyer is a Dakota artist who’s been performing burlesque since 2011. She performed with and co-produced the whimsical troupe “Boutique Cabaret” and has found her home with Turtle Island’s first all indigenous troupe “Virago Nation”. She’s also a momma of 2 and believes fiercely in breaking the stereotype that motherhood means giving up sexual expression. When she’s not raising the future generation off stage she will be raising your temperature on stage.

Instagram: @mandastroyer

Sparkle Plenty is Vancouver’s glamedian, weirdlesquer, and word-maker-upper who has been delivering beautifully bizarre burlesque acts for over 10 years! This fiery goddess is Cree and Metis with mixed heritage and is a proud sister of the first ever all Indigenous burlesque group, Virago Nation. You can find her teasing and emceeing with the Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society as well as on stages all over Vancouver, Toronto, Las Vegas and more. 

Instagram: @sparkleplentys

Monday Blues is an Afro-Indigenous burlesque artist, and has been performing burlesque professionally since 2011. Monday has traveled the globe as a solo female adventurer and loves to live outside her comfort zone. Her most recent endeavours include being an avid entrepreneur, both in Sex Work and coaching capacities, as well as pursuing her passion on the burlesque stages all over Canada and the US. Monday strives to exist without limits and wants to help others feel just as empowered. 

Instagram: @missmondayblues

Lynx Chase: A true showpony at heart, Lynx Chase has always been passionate about movement and performance arts. Over the years she has trained in a variety of disciplines ranging from Aerial Hoop, Silks, Contortion, Partner Acrobatics, Bellydance & Capoeira;  however it wasn’t until she discovered Pole Dancing in 2012 that she found her true vocation. Lynx has been professionally teaching in Vancouver since 2015 and has also showcased her gravity defying acts at various events and festivals across the province such as Retro Strip Show, Bass Coast and Shambhala Music Festival. It is her hope to continue to share her craft with the world by demonstrating the strength, sensuality, artistry and grace that goes hand in hand with the art of pole and exotic dance.

Instagram: @aylaylay_

Ruth Odare: Ruthe Ordare is the Indigifemme Amuse Bouche serving up hips, thighs and bedroom eyes since 2011. She is a performer from the Mohawk Nation and a founding member of the all-Aboriginal troupe Virago Nation. Dubbed the Canadian Meringue for being light on her feet and twice as sweet, Ruthe serves up classic glamour with a contemporary pulse! In her international travels, Ruthe has been awarded “Best Solo” at the Texas Burlesque Festival and “Best Duo” at the Oregon Burlesque Festival. She has performed at the Burlesque Hall of Fame’s Movers, Shakers & Innovators Showcase in 2015 & 2017 and the Tournament of Tease in 2013. 

Instagram: @ruthodare

Kiss & Tell Collective: Lesbian Imagery & Sexual Identities

Thu Jun 22 | 5:30pm

Or Gallery – 236 E. Pender St.

In this community presentation and Q&A, Dr. Kristen Hutchinson discusses the history and impact of the pioneering Vancouver-based Lesbian artist collective Kiss & Tell. Presented in partnership with Or Gallery.

Where do you draw the line between censorship and freedom of expression? Representation and exploitation? Art and pornography? In 1990, the pioneering Vancouver-based artist collective Kiss & Tell raised these provocative questions with Drawing the Line, a genre-defining and ground-breaking photographic exhibition about lesbian sexuality. With their radical images of women engaged in various erotic practices, from kissing to bondage to voyeurism, the collective—consisting of members Persimmon Blackbridge, Emma Kivisild, and Susan Stewart—not only drew attention to the lack of lesbian representation in Canadian art, but also used visual culture to address hotly debated questions within the queer community. Kristen Hutchinson’s research examines how Kiss & Tell created artworks, books and performances that allowed women to see themselves represented in art through a queer female gaze.

This presentation will include a conversation with Kiss & Tell collective member Susan Stewart,
followed by an audience Q&A.

REGISTER

Kristen Hutchinson is an adjunct professor of art history and women’s and gender studies and
an inaugural Redefining Canadian Art History Fellow at the Art Canada Institute where she is writing an online, open access book about Kiss & Tell. They received their PhD in the History of Art from University College London in 2007.

New Yams Festival

 Odera Igbokwe solo exhibit

Thu Jun 22 – Fri Jul 28

Exhibition is open Tue-Sat, 12 to 6pm

SUM gallery – #425-268 Keefer St.

New Yams Festival
Opening reception with Odera Igbokwe

Thu Jun 22, 7pm

SUM gallery – #425-268 Keefer St.

SUM gallery presents a solo exhibition by Odera Igbokwe, an illustrator and painter who celebrates the magic of the African Diaspora and QTBIPOC. New Yams Festival is a direct reflection, response, and Queer reclamation of The New Yam Festival of the Igbo people. Traditionally, it is a celebration of abundance, ancestral veneration, and protection. In referencing The New Yam Festival, Odera seeks to create a visual lineage between Queer Afrofuturism and ancestral rituals.

Igbokwe’s colourful, sensuous visions of Queer Black Futurisms opens with a reception on June 22 and will remain on display at SUM gallery until July 28.

Odera Igbokwe

Odera Igbokwe (they/them & he/him) is an illustrator and painter located on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Odera loves to explore storytelling through Afro-diasporic mythologies, Black resilience and magical girl transformation sequences. Their work explores the magic of the Black imagination, and responds to the fractures that occur via diaspora and displacement. Ultimately their paintings celebrate joy, mundanity, and fantasy coexisting alongside pain and healing. As a freelance illustrator, Odera works with clients and galleries to create work that is deeply personal, soulful and intersectional.

Sujit Vaidya: Breathe In The Fragrance

Fri Jun 23 | 7pm

Roundhouse Performance Centre – 181 Roundhouse Mews

Breathe In The Fragrance is Sujit Vaidya‘s celebration of erotic ritual — of taste, of smell, of song, of dance, of sensations awakened by Jasmine — to make space for the in-betweenness of things to exist. Combining traditional Indian dance elements with modern choreography and queer eroticism, Breathe In The Fragrance features Vaidya and fellow dancers Kiruthika Rathanaswami and Malavika Santhosh, with live music by Curtis Andrews, Arno Kamolika and Ramya Kapadia.

Sujit Vaidya (Choreographer/Dancer) is an independent dance artist based in Vancouver BC. Trained in Bharatanatyam, he predominantly works as soloist and continues his training in Bharatanatyam with Guru A.Lakshman.

His artistic choices reflect the curiosities and experiences he holds as a queer artist of colour, while deeply engaging with an art form rooted in tradition. His choreographies question the narrative and relevance of non inclusive traditional texts. He aims to create space for queer expression within the context of Bharatanatyam and seeks collaborations with other queer artists of colour.

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