THE NEO (queer) RAAGMALA

THE NEO [queer] RAAGMALA

The Neo [queer] Ragamala paintings are a part of an ecosystem that integrates the emic approach to the study of Indian classical music and visual art components – in finding inventive ways of representing queer male body, its limbs and parts to plural ecological elements from

a South Asian perspective.

It aims at blurring the border between body, nature and eventually the spiritual itself.

Thus questioning nature of the body, its genesis and defects, as well as systems of knowledge.

The works bank on the historic raagmala paintings of Central India (16th to 18th century CE,

with their characteristic anthropomorphic representation of musical melodies along with abundant portrayal of nature) as an entry point.

These paintings eventually embody a contemporary interpretation of the concept, through

a quasi-scientific trajectory layered with a social anthropologist quest. And further pulling aesthetics of Roman murals, Song dynasty paintings, and homo erotic cinema of Derek Jarman.