What does it mean to be Queer, Trans, South Asian, and part of a diaspora? To live in hybridity - an amalgamation - and create new cultures from the in-between? The LGBTQ+ South Asian diaspora holds multitudes, this creative workshop will delve into expressing the intersections of our identities based on the tradition of South Asian miniature paintings.

South Asian miniature paintings have often celebrated fluidity in gender, desire, intimacy and symbolism. From intimate same-gender connections to gender-ambiguous or fluid depictions, these artworks carried layered meanings.

Join us for ‘Queering Miniature Portraits’ a creative and care-centered workshop based on reimagining the tradition of South Asian miniature paintings. You will be gently guided to design your own miniature artwork that reflects who you are today. Using symbols, objects, patterns, and figures that speak to your identities, personal cosmologies, and lived experiences, we’ll explore the fusion of our identities.

From a disco ball wrapped in fabric, to food that reminds you of your version of home, a single word, or a self-portrait layered with patterns - the workshop will encourage playful reflections on what it means to be LGBTQ+ and South Asian, and how our identities fuse joy, resistance, and belonging. Each piece will then be woven into a larger collective pattern, printed on cards for Club Kali's ‘Our Home, Our Legacy’ exhibition, celebrating LGBTQ+ South Asian Heritage. Visitors will be able to write messages on the cards in response. The work will form an interactive wall of community voices and imagery.

This workshop is FREE and centres those who are South Asian and identify as LGBTQ+, allies are welcome to attend. All materials will be provided.

‘Our Home, Our Legacy' is part of Club Kali’s ‘Where East Meets West’, you can read more on Club Kali’s website: https://www.clubkali.co.uk/

This workshop is hosted by Dhaga and facilitated by Aaran Sian.

Queering miniature portraits