While most of the nation was preparing for the festival of lights, Tihar in early November 2023, something no less exciting was fuelling our sparks from oceans away. A queer art festival was happening for the seventeenth year and we had a chance to attend it as delegates. Our delegation was made possible through the collaboration between the Outburst Arts, an art organisation based in Northern Ireland, UK and the British Council, Nepal.
There is a clear distinction between cities in terms of their flourishing arts scenes, and this became apparent during a visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland, specifically for the Outburst Queer Arts Festival held in the charming city centre. The organisation of such a festival requires months of careful preparation and planning.
The queer art festival started as short events lasting a few days. Now, after 17 years, it has grown into a ten-day festival with panel discussions, theatre performances, and exhibitions. Program guides were available at venues, partner hotels, local libraries, and shops. Many delegates, including us, came from outside Northern Ireland to attend.
During the queer art festival, we had the opportunity to connect with art curators, publishers, artists, and representatives from other British Council departments around the world (Lithuania, France, South Africa, Turkey, Greece, Jordan, England, and Argentina to name a few.)
Each event that we attended gave us a different insight into what the arts can do and how it can facilitate connections. We gained insights from queer publishers and art curators on the challenges they face in their own countries due to resources and sometimes from bureaucracy in systems. We also got to see the way people can thrive when given a platform to showcase their works, such as an art exhibition in which the artist reimagined intimacy for queer people.
On the other hand, Nepal struggles by and large at times for queer visibility. There are no explicit spaces for SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expressions and Sex Characteristics) artists to showcase their works nor openly come together as a community, it all exists in pocket spaces. In the same way, something that struck us was the presence of older queer artists at the festival.
It was not just for one particular event during the queer art festival. We noticed an active participation and involvement of older queer people throughout the festival there. It was fascinating to see queer artists in their 40s and 50s share their transformative and inspiring work. Whereas, back home, the queer folks at the forefront of queer art, advocacy and activism are mostly Gen-Zs and millennials. We have very few queer elders that we can count on our fingers who are diligently working for Nepali queer folks. Even among them, some still hold onto archaic notions and refuse to evolve and embrace changes. So, there’s that.
From dream to reality
Before being selected as delegates, both of us joined online meetings with British Council Nepal and the Outburst representatives facilitated through Kaalo 101 (an art space in Patan), along with interested queer artists from Nepal. We had a total of three meetings where we discussed the possibilities and challenges of doing a queer art festival in Nepal.
The discourse also entailed us sharing a presentation about the updates of the queer art scene in Nepal in the last five years. The updates included memorable leaps taken in queer arts from music to literature and fashion and more by artists from diverse walks of life. Days after the third meeting, the British Council extended invitations to us to attend the Outburst Queer Arts Festival.
Our delegation is just one example of the transcontinental collaboration because it was something that happened for the first time and involved us. But, Outburst Arts and the British Council have been practising cross-continental collaboration for years. Even in this year’s festival, we witnessed a lot of artists from different continents work together in exhibitions, lectures, panel discussions, magazines and so on. The amalgamation introduced us to brilliant thought-provoking work that defies gender and sociopolitical norms. The power of transcontinental collaboration was beyond beautiful.
Imagining queer arts in Nepal
The queer art scene in Nepal is an emerging one. While a full-fledged festival may not be possible now, something small yet significant is achievable. Time and again, different organisations have been running large art exhibitions/tours for weeks and months. However, in the microcosm that is Nepal, especially Kathmandu, the capital is no stranger to art-oriented programs. What it has been unfamiliar with precisely is queer art. And the unfamiliarity is not something induced by the lack of queer artists and their art. Sadly, it is because of inadequate platforms, space and resources to pursue queer arts.
Despite this, through the years there have been events and literature that have emerged centring on queer identity, but it has not come without its challenges. On collections of stories, “Pride Climbing Higher” and “Songs of Revolution” showcase stories from Nepalis across Nepal. There are not many stories reflecting the Nepali queer experiences otherwise.
June Pride Parade by Queer Youth Group has gained momentum as well in the past few years since its conception, from a small gathering to now a large parade with performances from community members. The same can be said about Blue Diamond Society’s (BDS) Rainbow Visibility Pride events in August during the festival of Saa-Paru (Gai Jatra) which has been running for well over a decade; in recent years they have included flash mobs and interaction programmes as well in lead up to their parade. Individuals within the community have also organised their queer gatherings with friends, thus coming back to the cosmos of pocket spaces in celebrating queerness.
While artists like us are creative with what we want to put out, we still need organisations like the British Council to foster spaces and connections to enable us to do that. Then and again, artists have come together and collaborated on queer-centric projects. But, we need funding and resources to achieve bigger-scale projects that unite more artists and transcend borders.
Both of us advocate for queer rights and are involved in programs and activities that push the narrative further, extend the visibility of the community and normalise conversations surrounding queerness. Among other things, we are also the founders of Queering The Bond, a networking collective for Nepali queer folks and Shuby is also the founder of Queer Honky-Tonk, a platform to promote queer performances and networking with events such as a drag show or open mic every few months. However, both of us, individually or collaboratively can only do so much.
The challenges of living in a capitalistic world oftentimes outweigh the passion we have for the queer art scene in Nepal. And this is where we expect the government and organisations to step up with policies, platforms and programs to provide spaces, opportunities and resources for queer artists. Here, the British Council joined hands with Outburst Arts, which paved the way for our delegation. We would not have known about the marvellous queer art festival at the other end of the world otherwise.
Besides the limitations brought by insufficient spaces and social unawareness, the centralised capital does hinder queer artists from outside the city to connect, create and collaborate. Art already is centralised and elitist. On top of that, the concentrated Kathmandu Valley is of no help when it comes to making art accessible beyond its borders.
Furthermore, there is also the expectation from basically everyone to have the perfect festival that caters to all people’s needs and wants. While the festival, if it should happen, is bound to be done with the right intentions, there is a lot of pressure for the first-time event itself. The festival will be inclusive and diverse. But, realistically speaking, it would be a struggle to make it relevant to each queer person from east to west.
Speaking of struggles, a visceral feeling of uneasiness swarmed over me with each step I took while exiting the airport after the flight back home. I, Birat, personally felt that I could not be as free or unrestrained in Nepal as I was during my time in Belfast. No wonder a lot of the queer people we know opt for abroad.
Seventeen years ago, when the Outburst Queer Arts Festival first began, it certainly was not as celebrated or large as it is now. What we are trying to convey here is that we do not have to start big. We can aim for something small yet promising. While there might be expectations to check all the boxes, it is crucial to be mindful of our capacity as well. But, we can be capacitated and this is where you – people in power, art enthusiasts, grant and resource allocators and media come in. It is time we all believe in Nepali queer art and create space for it to not only survive but thrive. It is imperative to understand that formulating our imagination into reality can only be possible through unwavering collaboration.
The post Queer art festival: Reflecting and imagining the power of collaboration in Nepal appeared first on OnlineKhabar English News.
Comments
Post a Comment