‘We are one of you’
A transgender ‘artivist’, writer and actor, Kalki Subramaniam talks about the ignorance that trans people encounter and about collaborating with trans artists from around the world
1letters@hindustantimes.com You identify yourself as an “artivist”. What does “artivism” mean to you, and how did your journey with it begin? I have always used innovation, technology and creativity to raise awareness and create social change. This started right from my school days when I was the editor of a handwritten magazine titled Udaya Gaanam in which I drew caricatures and cartoons on political and social issues. I also wrote plays, poems and short stories on feminism and transgender liberation.
My art is not just for entertainment. I want it to break stereotypes, question ignorance, and impact society. Many years later, I started a magazine called Sahodari for the transgender community, which had a great positive impact. I use my art to tell stories, to perform, and to act. The word ‘artivism’ is new, and defines activism that involves art and creativity as an influential and powerful tool.
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“Othering” is a big problem for us in the transgender community. For centuries, we have been labelled and defined as misfits within the norms of society. Though it is changing now, we are still victims of the centuries of propaganda that pushed us to marginalisation and inequality.
We wanted to belong, we are not the others, we are one of you, we wanted to be included, and that is the reason I have titled the book We Are Not The Others.
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If You Don’t Mind,
All the three and, yes, ignorance is at the top. The questions I have been asked and the opinions shared about me to my face by insensitive people do tire me at times. But I stay strong and jolt them with a question or a satirical remark and shut them up. Malicious people are sad people, they need to be shut down. Many people need to be educated and sensitised. I understand their lack of knowledge. My poem If You Don’t Mind is a sum of all the insensitivity, malice and ignorance that transgender persons face, and it challenges male chauvinism and patriarchy.
Why did you choose this title for your book? Your poem, catalogues the insensitive questions that transgender people have to face about their bodies. Do you think these questions come from a place of curiosity, ignorance or malice? 4
Why do you think transgender people face discrimination when they have existed for centuries in society, literature and mythology?
You know, we need to be reminded of our ancient history and, as an advanced civilisation, how tolerant and inclusive we were. We have celebrated diverse gender identities and sexualities; we find evidence of it in our majestic temples, Puranas and epics. The arrival of colonialism criminalised same-sex behaviour and cross-dressing, and that was the beginning of oppression and the long struggle for freedom for the community. The Criminal Tribes Act introduced by the British was insensitive and inhuman. Transgender people were certainly victims of it. My poem Don’t Tell That To Me is my call for breaking stereotypes and making us stand individually strong and unashamed of who we are.