Queer Ink Archives, a digital archiving project, aims to record the lives and stories of the LGBTHQIA community in the country, and make it accessible to people
December 18, 2023
Consultant archivist Ishita Shah in conversation with activist and founder of Bombay Dost Ashok Row Kavi, recording his life history at his residence in Mumbai. Photo: QIA member
Chennai: The year was 1977. The event, the first workshop on human sexuality, organised by the Family Planning Association of India (FPA India). Ashok Row Kavi, then a young journalist, attended the function as a delegate.
“I came out at that workshop. I said that one needs to look at the homosexual population as they are very much a part of the whole paradigm of sexuality. There was a huge hue and cry,” recalls Kavi, one of the oldest LGBTHQIA activists in the country and founder of Bombay Dost, India’s first registered magazine for the LGBTHQIA community. “Avabai Wadia, who then headed FPA India, took strong objection to my presentation and said that homosexuality is nothing but pornography, and it has nothing to do with reproduction. But I insisted that if you don’t call homosexuality a perversion, but call it a deviation, then we can drag same sex issues into the realm of reproductive health. Surprisingly, the experts gathered there agreed.”
While The Indian Express, which Kavi then worked for, didn’t carry the story, a four-page report appeared in India Today. “That was the beginning of my activism,” says Kavi. “But nobody knows about all this.”
However, now Kavi’s memories of the birth and growth of the LGBTHQIA movement in India, as well as his articles, and journey as both a journalist and activist, will be recorded for posterity as part of ‘Queer Ink Archives’ (QIA), a project that aims to record the lives and stories of queer Indians. The work on the digital archive will begin in 2024.
“Where are the queer people in Indian history?” asks Shobhna S Kumar, publisher and producer of Queer Ink, an independent, queer-owned publishing house based in Mumbai, which focuses on changing the narrative of the LGBTHQIA community, focussing only on stories from within the community. The archiving project aims to address the lacuna.
“QIA is an extension of what we are doing. The representation of the queer community in the media is very little. And the coming out stories in contemporary media are also topical — suicides, lesbians getting married, etc,” says Shobhna, who did a course on personal archiving during the pandemic, which in turn sparked the idea of the archiving project.
“I was archiving my life, and that of my family. And I felt that we need to do this for queer India, recording oral histories, where people speak in their own languages of their experience of living in India as queer people,” says Shobhna. “We want to collate all these stories of people who are living queer lives in India, and place them in a manner that is accessible to everybody. The purpose is to place it in Indian history.”
So, in February 2023, Queer Ink, along with consulting archivist Ishita Shah, began work on the archives. As a historian, Ishita was drawn to the project as it involves the representation of people who want to be seen. “It is about making lesser-known people more visible, so they become part of the mainstream dialogue and reform,” says Ishita, an interior designer, architectural historian and curator.
The archiving project deals with oral histories. “It’s the starting point, where you get to know the person’s life. It also serves as an icebreaker, which is necessary while dealing with people’s lived experiences,” says Ishita.
Next, they look for physical archival material. “We digitise any physical object they have that is important for them as queer Indians. It could be photographs, places where they have grown up; some people even talk about the police station where they were gang raped,” says Shobhna.
This material could be letters, photos, newspaper articles, books, or any object that has personal meaning or a meaning in their story. “It could be a garment they wore when they first came out. We digitise it by scanning or photographing the item. Physical archiving also involves taking care of these objects by cataloguing or making an inventory of them and also preserving and rehousing them,” says Ishita.
Extended documentation is also a part of the process. “We usually find gaps and see if there is more to add to the story, and how it can be done. It could be finding the copy of an article they had written but isn’t with them anymore. Or, if they have mentioned neighbourhoods, cuisines, or restaurants, documenting those places then and now,” says Ishita. “If they have mentioned an event, and two other stakeholders were part of it, we try to talk to them and what they feel happened at that event.”
Ishita says they are working on the pilot archive. “Ashok Row Kavi allowed us to record his story. We need the oral history for him to explain why he does what he does.
Ashok Row Kavi shared his works and research during the oral history recording at his residence in Mumbai. Photo: Ishita Shah
But we were also listening, talking and looking at what’s in his home or life that is part of his life as a queer person in India. He is like any other Indian living an Indian life. His orientation is different, but he is like any other person in India,” says Ishita, adding that they are also working with five other interviewees.
Sukhada Joshi, research assistant in conversation with Ashok Row Kavi about his physical archives at his residence in Mumbai.
The digital archive will serve as a database for academics, researchers, and students. “We are recording the oral history in the languages that the people speak, and in their own voices. It will then be transcribed into English, and later other regional languages,” says Shobhna, adding that the website will also feature guidelines on how to train people within communities how to do it themselves.
Beyond their pilot exercise of archiving life and works of Ashok Row Kavi, QIA is now gearing up to archive oral histories and/or physical materials pertaining to the work and lives of New Delhi-based Anjali Gopalan, founder and executive director of The Naz Foundation Trust; Pune-based Bindumadhav Khire, director, Bindu Queer Rights Foundation; and academic, activist and author Ruth Vanita, who divides time between the US and India. “It is very important to the vision of QIA that from the very beginning, it engages with the complexity of developing a pan-India and inclusive repository,” says Ishita.
Basic cataloguing and rehousing of archival items of Ashok Row Kavi at his residence in Mumbai. Photo: Ishita Shah
All the people whose stories are part of the archive have shown the courage to be on record. “I think it is time for people to take responsibility for who they are, otherwise, fundamental rights won’t be given to them. Why are we still having to fight for our fundamental rights? It’s because we are not telling our stories to the public. We forget that there is a future generation out there. Do we want our children to go through what we experienced or are still going through?” asks Shobhna. “It’s not activism, it is about acknowledging our Indian lives.”
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