Sat 23 May, 6.00pm, Southbank Centre, London
Building on the success of last year’s panel discussion event at the Alchemy festival, The Love That Knows Much Shame, the Southbank Centre was keen to explore the subject again this year. We decided on a different type of event structure: a café style set-up bite size discussion event. I’ve identified distinctive speakers with a breadth of experience and perspectives. Each contributor will present for a few minutes followed by discussions on their topic.
Dr Abhi Shetty
Consultant Psychiatrist and gender specialist Dr Abhi Shetty will cover Hinduism and LGBT. How does Hinduism understand sexuality and gender? What are the narratives of old? Abhi was born into a Hindu family in India. He received a Catholic and Hindu education and has retained an interest in religious studies as an adult. He has an academic and personal interest in diverse expressions of religion, gender and sexuality.
Rose Neelam will look at Sexuality and Gender Identity through a British Pakistani lens, with a focus on British Pakistani women. Exploring how Pakistani Culture has informed a generation to express and accept themselves. Rose is director of Safra Project, working on issues around gender and sexuality in Islam, supporting LBTQ Muslim women and exploring the impact of Islamophobia in Queer communities.
Anato Chowdhury
Anato Chowdhury will explore Being Bisexual: navigating invisibility and practicality. Anato was born in Bangladesh and grew up travelling between Dhaka and other cities across Europe and Asia. Over the last few years he has been documenting his experience of bisexuality, and blogging about people’s reactions to his identity. His work has a special focus on his Muslim Bangladeshi background. Anato works as an engineer in the energy industry and is currently based in Scotland.
Raisa Kabir
Raisa Kabir will present In/Visible Space (Queer Brown Gendered Bodies): a series of visual essays that explore interwoven links between dress and space as components in the construction and visibility of South Asian LGBTQ identity. Raisa identifies as a South Asian queer femme and is a cultural activist, artist and writer. She has written about South Asian queer dress identity and culture, queer femme of colour invisibility, as well as cultural appropriation, ethnicity, diaspora and dress.
Bobby Tiwana
And finally, I, Bobby Tiwana will talk about Mobilising Others: creating structures to enable greater Asian LGB/T engagement, participation, representation, consumption and understanding. This is as a producer of fringe narratives and LGBT broker with various cultural, educational and community agencies.
The event will offer rich provocations to stimulate discussion in groups, drawing together a diversity of perspectives, experiences, identities and understanding.
For bookings see Southbank Centre event page. The event finishes at 7.45pm.
Would be great to see you there!
Safar... 