Art is a powerful way to express yourself and also be a medium of social commentary. An artist’s imagination and creativity can create new vistas, and bring to fore both hidden desires as well as our struggles. That being said, there aren’t too many openly queer artists in India to bring forth queer issues through illustrations or art. Yet, there are a handful of them coloring and queering some of the digital mediums that exist today. We tell you 10 of the best queer graphic artists on instagram that you must follow.
1. Priyanka Paul (artwhoring)
Priyanka is an illustrator from Mumbai, and her instagram page is a delight to look at. The page has close to 53K followers, and is our top recommendation to everyone.
2. Param Sahib (parambanana)
Param is a fashion designer cum illustrator. His instagram account describes him as “MAXIMALIST Designer”. If one thing you will notice about Param’s instagram is that he loves colours, the bright ones especially. When he is not posting photos of the quirky clothes that he designs, he posts his illustrations. Many of his artworks portray a gay sikh man and his desires, and he has been at receiving many hate comments and abuses for this as well. When asked what his illustrations are trying to portray, Param says, “It’s just an everyday experience in a queer Sikh man’s life. So it could be funny, emotional, learning moments where being queer is just a part of him and not a deciding factor for him.” It is rare to see artwork showcasing Sikh men in gay embraces or desires. No wonder he has accumulated 30k followers on Instagram.
3. Queer Clitoris (queerclitoris)
Another instagram page with some really cool illustrations. The follower count of the page does gross injustice to this otherwise lovely artist. “My illustrations are about queer love representation, queer people in general (their struggle), mental health and to create awareness regarding stigmatized and taboo issues like sex education, periods etc,” says the artist behind the page.
4. The Effeminare (the.effeminare)
The Effiminare is the art page of Anwesh Sahoo, who was Mr Gay World India 2016. Although Anwesh graduated with an Engineering Degree, his creative mind had him pursue a Masters in NIFT. This multi-talented person is an illustrator/graphic artist as well, and The Effeminare is where he shares his artwork. His page features the commissioned work he takes to design wedding cards/invites, as well as his work depicting queerness. “My work while started out as a representation of myself, and my understanding of gender, has over time become a manifestation of the people and their experiences shared with me. Of course my work still continues to be an exploration of gender, I love experimenting with gender in fact, but the more I interact with people, I feel more fulfilled, a little more complete, and I believe that’s where my art expands. It’s about us, and not me anymore,” he says.
8. Arzoo (arzoodles)
Arzoo is a non binary femme artist living in Bombay. She creates artworks based on my feelings, puns, politics, comics, and social justice. A lot of the artwork on her page celebrates trans and non-binary identities, to which she says, “I absolutely embrace my queer identity in every way possible, it’s self care honestly. You’ll always find something queer in my artworks. A flag being represented somewhere or some queer pun somewhere even if the whole artwork is not queer themed.” Sadly, this openness has at times cost her her work. “Not abiding to society’s cishetero-normative standards, unfortunately comes with a price even in 2020. I have been denied freelance commission work in the past for being who I am and I’m terrified that it’ll happen again. The world would be a better place if we embrace the diversity.”
10. Opashona Ghosh (opashona)
Opashona’s page features illustrations that explores (female) sexuality and body through erotica and art. “Art for me is not about expressing, rather grounding myself in the exploration of knowledge. The ridiculous journey of trying to find my visual language with patience, love and critical approach has been most transformative in present continuous,” says Ghosh to Homegrown Website.