ME WE Opening Panel 'But What is Queer Art Exactly?' & Reception

ME WE Locating the individual within the movement. Celebrating the unconfinable and unflinching individualism of over 25 artist voices, self identified as QUEER, this exhibition works at the intersections of identity and life experience, genre and process. The works are a diverse cross-section of paintings and photographs, sculptures & videos, sci-fi fantasia, comic-book graphic art and even digital new age media appropriations from Instagram and GIF platforms. Shattering mythologies of desire and intimacies, the works range from polished and seasoned to raw and sometimes even incomplete, exposed as they are to the vulnerability of love and loss that is immediate and personal. Sometimes fearless, sometimes furtive, sometimes in the exploration of anticipation, they evoke presence, touch, comfort, absence, rage and despair like a shared infinite pole dance in space but with the spatial awareness of material and scale. They illuminate the complex landscape of gender, pleasure, fantasy and desire here, today, now. Opening Night, 26th June 5pm - 5.30pm Exhibition Doors Open 5.30pm - 6pm Opening Remarks by Program Director, American Center Special Note by Thibault Devanlay, Counsellor European Union Delegation on the combined efforts of the 34 Delhi Based Embassies on the occasion of International Pride Month Note about the 'Resonance through reading - a community library for LGBTQ young adults' by Navdeep Sharma 6pm Panel: 'But, What is Queer Art exactly?' Moderator Anuradha Mukherjee, Editor, India Today Group Sonia Khurana, Artist Aseem Chabbra, Film Curator NYIFF John Connolly, Former Chef, Creative Head Ravish Kapoor Design Studio Ram Rahman, Photographer, Curator, Cultural Activist and Founding member of SAHMAT Myna Mukherjee, Curator & Cultural Producer Visual Arts/Performance/Film, Director Engendered Sumiran Kabir Sharma, Fashion Designer Label Anaam, Silhouette Generation Artist 7pm-8pm Reception About the Exhibition Artists: Aamir Rabbani, Adil Kalim, Aditya Raj, Balbir Krishan, Baishali Chetia, D. Bhattacharjya Tato, Dinesh Solanki, Manmeet, Gopa Trivedi, Inder Salim, Krishna Roy, Ram Rahman, Renu Sharma, Sonia Khurana, Jenny T.S, Nikhil Bansal, Ipshita Thakur, Indira Lakshmi Prasad, Oddbench, Pulkit Mogha, Sumiran Kabir Sharma, Saawan KR Taank, Satadru Sovan, Mohan Jangid, Gargi Chandola of Post Art Project, Valay Gada. Curator: Myna Mukherjee An Engendered project presented by the American Center, this exhibition breaks through dominant ideas that limit and marginalize queer art by creating a new concept of queer as a wider platform for excellence in arts, capable of tracking, discovering, and interpreting new trends while daring to speak openly about the norms that constitute society and art. This exhibition is free to the public and accessible as an ancillary and outreach event to amplify the continued joint efforts of the 34 Delhi-based embassies towards the universality of Human Rights without discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, and in support of the LGBTQIA community on the occasion of International Pride month. Along with the exhibition there will also be for the first time in Delhi a launch of a community library for LGBTQ young adults named “Resonance through Reading”. This collection explores important themes and issues ranging from LGBTQI representation in children’s literature to narratives by bi, gay, lesbian and trans people about their lives, desires and identities. The mini library of 80 books, brought together by the Bi Collective of Delhi, will also be housed at the American Center for the entire duration of the exhibition. • Please reach the venue before 5 p.m. and carry a valid photo identification in original with you for entry. • The American Center is a two-minute walk from the Barakhamba Road Metro Station. • Mobile phones are allowed within the American Center. • Please DO NOT BRING laptops, tablets or power banks into the building; these CANNOT be stored at the security station. • For security reasons, photography through mobile phones or any other devices is prohibited. • American Center does not provide parking on its premises. • Media planning to cover events at the American Center are requested to notify the Embassy's Press Office in advance at +91 11 2419 8814. • All visitors may be featured in photos or video to be used for promotional purposes or on social media