Festival Gender Bender 2019: Grantee Showcase

Now in its fifth year, Gender Bender is the first festival of its kind in India that showcases new works of art around gender - as a concept, discourse, construct, and as art itself. In providing a trigger grant to artists and individuals creating such work, and showcasing these projects for the audience, the aim is to add to the ever-evolving understanding of gender itself.

The Grantee Showcase has always been one of the highlights of the Festival and this year is no different!


Meet the grantees for 2019

© Payal Padmanabhan Payal Padmanabhan is a doctoral scholar researching the politics of gender in the tarot at the department of English, University of Delhi. She also creates comics and illustrations with a focus on feminism, body positivity, mental health, and nature.
Payal’s project, The Fabulous Hysteric, will harness the tarot’s innate story-telling ability to produce a deck that is inspired by the menstrual cycle. The cards will engage with themes like menstruation, endometriosis, PCOD, cervical cancer, childbirth, menopause, and so on. 

 

© Anjana Balakrishnan, Sunayana Premchander, Thejesh GN, Yashodara Udupa Anjana Balakrishnan is a short story writer and editor based in Bangalore. Sunayana Premchander is a writer, theatre practitioner and facilitator from Bangalore. Thejesh GN is an independent technologist, hacker, maker, traveller, blogger, info activist, open data and open Internet enthusiast. Yashodara Udupa is a filmmaker whose work has focused on issues such as human rights, culture and the city.
Their project On Her Own is a multimedia exploration through the landscape of women’s experiences of self-discovery, self-reliance and self-assertion. It unravels our moments of silent rebellion and show us that we are not alone in these.

© Ashmi Mridul, Sneha Joshi Ashmi Mridul is an artist and interaction designer passionate about making art more accessible by bringing it into the public realm. Sneha Joshi is an artist who enjoys questioning societal norms through her practice while investigating the creation of inclusiveness through her work.
Their project Kahani Suni delves into the subject of marriage migration, a common custom followed by women in India. The stories that are collected will come to life through evocative objects situated in a space created for introspection and conversation.

 

© Ashok Vish, Joshua Muyiwa Ashok Vish is an artist whose practice draws from his training as a filmmaker and other aspects of image-making such as video and photography. Joshua Muyiwa is a poet, writer and columnist, who occasionally works with artists to make collaborative work. The duo live and work in Bangalore.
Camp: Notes from Bangalore borrows gestures from campy men in the city to create how-to-videos influenced by the aesthetic of the iconic exercise videos from the ‘80s (think Jane Fonda). The project intends to pay homage and honour these gestures – but also to remind everyone that the underpinnings of camp is: don’t take yourself too seriously.

 

© Disha Arora Disha Arora is a development communication specialist and documentary filmmaker.
Her web series Women and Caste in India will focus on the impact of caste structures of Dalit women in the country. The first episode highlights the status of Dalit women’s health in Rajasthan with a focus on the accessibility of healthcare facilities.

 

© Varoon P Anand, Gaurav Singh

Gaurav Singh is an actor, marketing consultant and production manager working in the independent and collegiate theatre circuit for the last 6 years. Varoon P Anand serves as Artistic Director of Kaivalya Plays and its improv troupe - CueLess Improv, India's only Spanish theatre group - El Clavileño and the Little Theatre Group (LTG) Repertory.
Their project, Aguebao, explores the value of human identity, especially gender, as commodified by data. Presented through an installation and a 15-minute performance at Gender Bender 2019, Aguebao uncovers how our present relationship with technology reveals more than we intend to about ourselves.

 

© Rania Atef Rania Atef is an Egyptian multidisciplinary visual artist whose work explores the notions of play and craft across a wide range of media including painting, sculpture, installation and video.
Her project, while being an octopus, looks at the position of women in the Arab region by addressing the concept of “balance” required by women in general, and mothers in particular.


 

© Sandeep TK SanDeep TK is a practicing lens-based artist from Thalassery, Kerala, living and working in Bangalore. His practice involves moving images, documentary photography and fictional narratives that involve himself.
The focus of his photographic project, Declaration of Empathy, is on Annamma. Through her, the artist tells many stories with his camera about a sexual minority that is discriminated against, living on the margins of society.
 

© Sanika Dhakephalkar Sanika Dhakephalkar is a queer artist based in Mumbai. They also love to read, write and translate poetry. By day, Sanika is an educator and teaches art and English to children.
Their project, The Rainbow Book, aims to explore the relationship that trans and nonbinary people share with their clothes and expression by way of an interactive sticker zine made in collaboration with several queer people who currently reside in Mumbai.
 

Srota Dutta Acharya is a Fulbright (F.L.T.A) fellow and ex-journalist. In 2016, collaborating with Hamdasti, funded by IFA, she participated in the second edition of Chitpur Local, which culminated in a two day community art festival named ‘Tales of Chitpur’ held in 2018.
Her project, Framed Desire, is an interactive installation comprising of photographs of prospective brides that highlight the nuances of the gendered marriage market. In this series, the artist showcases the aesthetic of “bridability” and explores questions on femininity, desirability and commerciality.