Category: Creations | Varta Trust

This photograph shows a mid-range shot of a collective display of the five zines made by the author Mekuriiko for the exhibition ‘Queer Objects 1.0’ organized in Guwahati in late 2023. Several copies of each of the zine are placed, somewhat casually, on a low box-like display stand. The display is just next to a blank white wall of the exhibition hall. The covers of the zines read ‘Love is Love’, ‘The Queer Manifesto’, ‘Queer Objects’, ‘Queer Revelations’ and ‘You Will Die, And So Will I’. A sticky note next to the zines urges the viewers to flip through the zines. Photo credit: Mekuriiko

Storytelling through zines

By Mekuriiko

Mekuriiko writes for the first in a series of articles on the experience of the artists who participated in ‘Queer Objects 1.0’, a one-of-its-kind exhibition held in Guwahati in late...

This photograph is an indoor shot of an art workshop organized to celebrate 100 monthly issues of ‘Varta’ webzine. Around half a dozen individuals are seated on the floor in a well-lit room. One person is seated on a plastic chair. Everyone is absorbed in drawing, painting, and sketching on sheets of white chart paper. An assortment of poster colours, brushes, and mixing plates are spread out on the floor. A young woman, seated closest to the camera, is painting a huge tree in brown and yellow arching across the chart paper. A small inset at the right hand side bottom corner of the photograph shows a close-up of a mixing plate filled with a riot of water colours. The circular border of the plate itself is filled with multi-coloured polka dots. Photo credits: Rudra Kishore Mandal and Swati Das

Creations, Vartanama Jul '22

Varta’s art workshop was fun and thought-provoking

By Pawan Dhall

Highlights from an art workshop organized to celebrate 100 monthly issues of 'Varta' webzine

Creations, Insight Dec '20

Ephemera, archiving and accessibility

By Subhradeep Chatterjee

Subhradeep Chatterjee on his labour of love, the ‘Ephemeriad Project – Archiving Temporality’

This photograph shows a daytime close shot of one of the Braille graffiti on display near a staircase at the English departmental building at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. The graffiti has been created out of white table tennis balls cut in halves and then screwed onto the wall using cement to form the English Braille letters for the word 'subaltern'. Since this is a close-up shot, the graffiti spans across the photograph. But the wall on which the graffiti has been created is replete with other graffiti as well bits and pieces of which are visible in the photograph. Right below the Braille graffiti, the word ‘azaadi’ has been spray painted in blue on the wall in large-sized capital letters in English. Photo credit: Pawan Dhall

Creations Mar '20

Look, there’s something subaltern about this graffiti!

By Chandrima Mukhopadhyay, Subhradeep Chatterjee, Utsa Ghosh

Jadavpur University students set Braille graffiti example, turn walls into bridges for inclusion

Creations, Insight, Travel Travel Oct '18

Many intimacies, many improvisations

By Marc Ohrem-Leclef

Marc Ohrem-Leclef’s 'Jugaad – Of Intimacy and Love' is a visual arts portrayal of male-to-male intimacy

Creations, Poetry Jul '17

How do you feel?

By Suchetana Sengupta, Siddhartha Sankar

Main photo long description: This first (main) photograph shows a performance of Mandeep Raikhy’s choreographic creation ‘Queen-size’ under way at Sitara Studio in Mumbai. The setting is typical for a ‘Queen-size’ show – Lalit Khatana and Parinay Mehra, the two dancers are performing around a charpoy, which is placed in the centre of the performance space – a studio room or small hall. The audience is also seated around the charpoy in an intimate arrangement that is a complete departure from a proscenium setting. The performers are on the right side of the bed, touching each other intimately as they pass by slowly and gaze into each other’s eyes. The lighting is dim, but the charpoy roping is a bright white, especially compared to the audience figures shrouded in darkness. Lalit Khatana, facing the camera, is to the right; he is tall, somewhat heavy built and hirsute, wearing an orange shirt with sleeves folded up and dark trousers; Parinay Mehra with his back to the camera is a shade shorter, slightly built and is in a grey t-shirt and cream coloured trousers. The photograph is taken from behind a few people in the audience seated on chairs. Photo credit: Kavi Datt.

Clickhappy!, Creations Mar '17

Mandeep Raikhy on the spaces that his choreographic creation Queen-size has occupied across India in resistance against criminalization of queer intimacies. I made Queen-size in order to take it OUT. Out of theatres...

This is a photograph from the ‘Verve’ calendar – it shows a male cyclist smiling and holding aloft above his head a Ridley bicycle with his right hand. He is holding the bicycle at the pedals joint. He is in full cycling gear, with a helmet and arm sleeves, and is wearing an orange tee. We can see only the upper half of his body, chest onwards, almost as if he was airborne. He is in an outdoor location. The photograph is taken early evening, against the sunlight, which is shining through the left wheel and adding to the airborne effect. Photo credit: Souvik Banerjee

Creations, Insight Feb '17

Visual ode to redefining sporting abilities

By Suchandra Ganguly

Suchandra Ganguly on the story behind Verve – Where the Mind is without Fear, a table calendar for 2017 to express solidarity with para-athletes in Bengal What does the word...

Tagged Under: Creations

Storytelling through zines

Varta’s art workshop was fun and thought-provoking

Ephemera, archiving and accessibility

Look, there’s something subaltern about this graffiti!

Many intimacies, many improvisations

How do you feel?

Coming out on the charpoy

Visual ode to redefining sporting abilities

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