"Asian Future" at GFEST - Gaywise FESTival

An annual platform for LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) artists and organisations, the 8th GFEST - Gaywise FESTival ® runs Monday 9 – Saturday 21 November 2015 at venues across London. The festival showcases art, films and a live music performance by artists from Britain and beyond.

Challenging perceptions of Asian LGBTQI identities, the festival's visual art exhibition at Menier Gallery (9 – 14 November, free) offers a rare glimpse into a world where gender, sexuality and religion are defiant bedfellows. ASIAN FUTURE will feature new work by legendary artist, writer and activist Sunil Gupta, renowned for his honest portrayal of gay life around the world, including his native India where practicing homosexuality is essentially illegal. The exhibition will present a series of his photographs that explore moments from South Asian Queer life sketches. Also on display are photographs by Charan Singh, a visual artist informed by years of community activism and HIV/AIDS work in India. Interactive artist Maya Chowdhry, in collaboration with poet Sarah Hymas, presents poetic sculptures that explore the fragility of life and anthropogenic climate change. Raju Rage combines film installation with image collage to question gender, sexuality and religion. Trained as a weaver, Raisa Kabir questions the politics of dress in connection to space, gender, race and sexuality.

Art critic Anna McNay will head up a debate on SEXUALITY AND SOUTH ASIAN IDENTITIES at Menier Gallery on 14 November. There’ll be LGBT tour of Tate Modern’s Level 4 Galleries with artist Michael Petry looking at QUEER ART AT TATE MODERN (16 November) hosted by Tate curator Marcus Dickey Horley.