Artists

Sucharita Tyagi is an Indian writer, film critic, video content creator and former radio jockey. She began her career by hosting radio programming in New Delhi, and later gained wider recognition as a creator of web content and YouTube videos for film review platforms.

SUCHARITA TYAGI

Shazia Iqbal is an Indian writer/ director based in Mumbai. She won the best debut Director at the 30th Sao Paulo International Shorts Film Festival for her critically acclaimed, debut short film, Bebaak. The film premiered at Indian Film festival of Los Angeles and was screened at MOCA Grand, LA under the programme ‘The new wave of South Asian Cinema’. The film went on to win twenty one International and Indian State awards. Her feature film script, Blood Circle was selected for Film Independent’s Global Media Maker’s Screenwriting lab, 2019 in Los Angeles.

Iqbal is the Production designer for International Emmy nominated, India’s first original Netflix series, Sacred Games (Season 1 & 2), and mini-series Lust Stories. She has designed and Art directed about 120 TV commercials.

SHAZIYA IQBAL

Sculptor, Educator, Activist and India's first performing drag king. They graduated with a BFA in Sculpture from The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2015. Durga has given various talks and lectures throughout the country about art, design, technology and identity. Being a genderfluid person, Durga felt compelled to be an activist and educate the masses about the presence of various non-binary identities in the world.

Durga's work, thoughts and intentions have been published in numerous publications like Art India, Architectural Digest, Vogue, GQ, Femina, Harper's Bazaar, Elle Decor, Homegrown to name a few. Durga was part of the Grazia magazine ‘Cool list 2018’, and on the digital cover of Vogue India Sept 2019. Durga was on the cover of Rolling stone magazine India June 2020. Durga started to experiment with gender identity through drag and performance art. Their drag alter ego is called 'Shakti' and is the first performing drag king in India.

DURGA SUNIL GAWDE

Rosh is a queer visual artist and activist who loves using her voice and her art to make a change in the world. She loves to break boundaries, experiment and explore new perspectives and forms. She truly believes in being the change she wants to see.

ROSHINI KUMAR

Pattie Gonsalves is a mental health researcher and public engagement specialist. Pattie’s on-going work both as a researcher and a practitioner gives her a unique perspective on mental health. Deeply motivated to break the stigma related to young people’s mental health in India, Pattie’s work has focused on creating novel advocacy and education projects. She works Sangath, an Indian mental health non-profit, leading digital innovations and participatory projects supported by the Wellcome Trust and Comic Relief. She leads ‘It’s Ok To Talk’, a national anti-stigma campaign for youth mental health and suicide prevention. Pattie is also studying for a PhD at the University of Sussex UK, researching the impacts of a digital game-based intervention for adolescent mental health.

PATTIE GONSALVES

Mariyam Saigal is a Queer Muslim woman who suffers from hearing impairment. She completed her BA and is now pursuing law. Known among a few as a poet, her notable poetry performances include the ones at TEDx, Spoken Fest and WeTheWomen.

MARIYAM SAIGAL

Pooja Nair (ciswoman, pronoun: she) has been part of the non-profit sector for over a decade. She has worked as a researcher, documentation consultant, trainer and now as an independent therapist. She has an MPhil from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and has worked in the areas of life skills, feminist theory, gender, sexuality, violence and child sexual abuse. She has also worked with adolescents on life skills development. She is Faculty at Mariwala Health Initiative’s (MHI) Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice Certificate Course.

POOJA NAIR

Zain Baweja is a queer, South Asian poet. Their poems have appeared in The Oxford Review of Books, The Aleph Review, and AGNI Magazine. Their writing practice is influenced by eighteenth-century Urdu poetics, which includes literary devices such as iham, kaifiyat, khiyal bandi, ma’ni afrini, and mazmun afrini. Many of these theories, and ways of being, have been deliberately erased from the history of Indian poetry by Western colonialism and imperialism.

photo credits: Charlotte Whittington (@charlotte__whittington)

ZAIN BAWEJA

Syeda Lameeya Parween is a queer affirmative therapist and works mostly with clients from marginalized spaces. She understands mental health as a part of social justice and human rights work recognising that valid reactions to oppression cannot be pathologised. She is associated with different organizations as a consultant therapist. She has been involved in different TQMP projects in varying capacities in the past.

SYEDA LAMEEYA PARWEEN

Zorawar Waraich is a non-binary photographer, model, writer and performer whose work is underpinned by a message of decolonisation through radical self love.

ZORAWAR WARAICH

Zorawar Waraich is a non-binary photographer, model, writer and performer whose work is underpinned by a message of decolonisation through radical self love.

ZAN (they, them) is a singer, songwriter, and producer. They were raised in Boorloo (Perth) and are currently based in Naarm (Melbourne). Following their debut EP, Gulnaz (2018), ZAN spent the last few years writing music and performing along their travels - across the unceded lands of Boorloo, Tongva land and Naarm. They’ve showcased at SXSW (2019), BIGSOUND (2019) and been featured in PAPER, Triple J Unearthed and Pilerats. Their new single, ‘tu’, is out now.

ZAN

Zoya Akhtar hails from one of the most artistic families in the country. Having learnt the ropes of storytelling from an early age, Zoya began her career by assisting established filmmakers such as Mira Nair, Tony Gerber, and Dev Benegal.

Now a writer-director in her own right, Zoya has directed critically acclaimed films and series like Luck By Chance (2009), Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), Bombay Talkies (2013), Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), Lust Stories (2018), Made in Heaven (2019), and Ghost Stories (2020).

Zoya's recent film, Gully Boy, was India’s official entry at the 92nd Academy Awards. Through her body of work, Zoya showcases her ever-evolving vision and skill; which has cemented her place as one of India’s most distinguished directors.

KUBBRA SAIT

Kubbra Sait is an actress, Emcee, and Spoken Word Poet who rose to fame after her portrayal of the transgender dancer Kuckoo in the globally acclaimed Netflix show Sacred Games, which has been described as the breakout performance of the year and earned her rave reviews and recognition.

In her next big project, she will be seen in the upcoming Apple TV series, Foundation starring Jared Harris. She has acted in numerous ads, web series, and movies, notably, the award winning movie 'Gully Boy', 'Jawanni Jaaneman', 'The Tripling', 'The Verdict State vs Nanavati', 'Illegal' and 'RejctX'. She has hosted shows across genres like Travel, Food, Sports and Lifestyle on platforms such as Star Tv, Indiatimes, Bloomberg and Food Food among others, and been a part of many brand endorsements like Olay, Mia by Tanishq, Vivel - I want, Smash Box, Taco Bell, Levis - IShapeMyWorld.Kubbra is an award winning emcee respected across the event industry and has been adding value to events for a decade with her own registered tagline #PaidToTalk.

SHIVA RAICHANDANI

Alankrita, one of India's leading contemporary writer-directors, co-wrote the first season and directed episodes of Prime Video's critically acclaimed series, Made in Heaven. She has also written and directed feature films such as Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare that had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, and Lipstick Under My Burkha which garnered praise and acclaim from audiences and critics worldwide, winning numerous awards at prestigious international film festivals including Tokyo, Glasgow, MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, and IFFLA. More recently, Alankrita was the writer, director, and showrunner for Netflix's Bombay Begums, a series that revolves around the lives of five women in an urban Indian city. The series was released in March 2021 and has been well-received by critics and audiences alike. Alankrita is presently working with Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti on the second season of Made in Heaven.

ALANKRITA SHRIVASTAVA

ZEESHAN ALI

Shiva Raichandani is a multidisciplinary non-binary performance artist and content creator whose works harness the power of storytelling to create inclusive spaces for positive gender-diverse representation in media. Shiva was a semi-finalist on Britain’s Got Talent; competed on India’s and France’s Got Talent; participated in an exclusive Netflix short film; delivered a TEDx talk; performed at Cannes Lions; has been featured by the likes of Google, Getty Images, Instagram, and Vogue; and has walked the London Queer Fashion Show.

Currently, Shiva is producing a fictional musical film, ‘Queer Parivaar’, which is based on an interfaith queer south Asian romance featuring an all-Asian, all-queer cast and crew; is a resident dance educator at Pineapple Dance Studios, London; and has been commissioned to direct a Netflix documentary called ‘Peach Paradise'.

Zeesh is a multidisciplinary Artist. Zeesh's drag journey began 6 years back and since then zir work can be found in all Major magazines and media platforms. Ze is known for zir eccentric and distinctive style of drag which is visually unique every time with custom made costumes and intricate makeup details. Zeesh is a regular performing artist starting zir career in the field of live performances 3 years back at Kitty Su and has shared the stage with several Indian and international drag Icons.

Creating waves in the fashion and makeup industry, from being on the cover of Vogue India to being an iconic face for the fashion showcase of Manish Arora at Lakme. Ze has worked in several ad films and theater/Art productions as a head makeup artist and costume designer and is also known for Zir gender redefining modelling projects.

NIKHIL TANEJA

Nikhil Taneja is a Mumbai-based writer, producer, storyteller, teacher, entrepreneur, and youth mental health advocate. He's the co-founder and CEO of a youth media, community engagement and data insights organization called Yuvaa, a platform that creates socially conscious entertainment and works on purpose-driven solutions to empower young Indians. He serves on the Global Advisory Board of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s community, Goalkeepers and is the Festival Creative Director of the India Film Project. He is currently writing a book that tries to take the toxic out of masculinity, to be published by Penguin Randomhouse India. Nikhil believes that kindness can heal our broken world.

Sonaksha is an illustrator, graphic recorder and book designer. They use art to contribute to social justice movements and work with organisations defending human rights and the environment. They are currently dreaming and drawing about mental health, community care, fat liberation, queerness and intersectional feminism.

SONAKSHA

Aditya Tiwari is an Indian poet and LGBT rights activist. His first book of poems April is Lush (2019) received international acclaim and was featured on Lambda Literary in the spirit of uplifting the work of queer Indian artists. He writes on a variety of themes ranging from politics, colour, intersectionality, age, queerness, gender, and revolution. His writings have appeared in Firstpost, Live Wire, Feminism In India, Homegrown, Say It In Color Zine, Gaysi, and Rodwell Magazine, among others. He has also spoken at various literary festivals including New Delhi’s Rainbow Lit Fest, one of the largest LGBT literary festivals in India, and has been profiled on The Hindu, Museum of Queer Swipe Stories, Humans of Bombay, Gal-Dem, Vice India, The Quint, The Swaddle, and others. His second book of poems Lilac Dreams and Bruises is ready for publication. Learn more about Aditya on Instagram and Twitter at @aprilislush