Raju

Raju Behara, a genderqueer feminist, an EQUAL Fellow, and a peer support provider have curated several workshops and listening circles for queer-trans folks., redefining safe spaces and driving conversations through art. Now through Piravi Art Community, they offer expressive-art and poetry workshops, across languages and geographies, to help unpack gender and sexuality., for audiences from various intersections, including neurodiverse participants. Raju is a prolific writer and have been published in several anthologies and platforms. They are currently working on an edited collection chronicling missing social histories of LGBTQIA+ communities, examining the housing, workplace and healthcare violations and the profound impact of legal judgements on the mental health of LGBTQIA+ individuals, communities and movements.

Workshop 1: Demystify Gender
Have you ever been confused on what gendered experiences mean to you? Confused in the sea of labels, too feminine, too masculine, not too butch? Too colourful? Battled these with your peers and the largely straight audiences we live with? Join this workshop for an immersive art and poetry-based exploration of gender biases & binaries. You do not need to know or have a formal training in art or poetry to attend this workshop.

Workshop 2: Piravi - Redefine safe spaces for queer trans folks
We start by getting the participants to reflect on their lived experiences and spell out or draw what safe space means to them. We then engage them in blackout poetry techniques to show how to change the narrative and reimagine what safe spaces look like to others. Finally participants write / draw their own creations using techniques of found poetry, and share it with the group, thereby charting safe spaces for the community now.