Indian Illustrator Strikes a Start of a New Age Support to LGBT Community!
Indian Illustrator Strikes a Start of a New Age Support to LGBT Community!
Living in a transphobic country, this 24-year-old Indian-illustrator Anusha Raichur, has a new way to counter and drive out prejudices against LGBT community in India.
This freelance graphic designer from Bengaluru, is drawing colorful illustrations in a series of three that shall continue for 100 days, which is why she calls it a 100 day project. She began her project two weeks ago, and draws her inspirations from pride marches in Spain, to Mughal miniatures, to pop art.
Typo-graphing words like Lesbian, LGBT, Transgender, Bisexual in Hindi, and illustrating photographs, right from Mughal dynasty, and depicting it today, flashes back a sly reference to the culture followed back in time, and which currently gets a thumbs down, “Let’s make coming out of the closet a little easier,” says Anusha, who has several friends from the LGBT community.
In an interview she had said that she wants to erase any preconceived notions people may have about the transgender community. “It is terrible how our transphobic society and the media has reduced something significant and brave into something that is so gravely ridiculed and rejected,” she added.
Anusha, also has a facebook page –Arvani Art Project, that seems to give constant support to the LGBT community with regular encouraging posts and news about them. Society is coming of age; they are becoming conscious and sensitive about these topics, and educated enough to talk about sexual diversity. “We think we are well-educated as a generation, but you’ll be shocked to know how many people still don’t know what the realm of bisexuality is, what the term transgender exactly is, the struggle they go through and the issues related to this community,” Raichur told a website.
This is only the first part of the three-part series on the LGBT community, and she further plans to meet people and illustrate real experiences and struggles. “It’s okay to not fit in with society’s idea of what people should be,” Raichur said.