Rainbow Pride Festival begins in Coimbatore with art exhibition

The Coimbatore Rainbow Pride Festival for members of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) began here on Thursday with an art exhibition by members of the transgender community.

Organised by Kalki Subramaniam of Sahodari Foundation, a part of the exhibition displayed various artworks by trans people.

Ms. Subramaniam told

The Hindu that the artworks were part of a project named ‘trans hearts’ to encourage art among trans people.

The other part of the art exhibition was titled ‘Shut Up!’ featuring over 250 handwritten stories of violence and abuse experienced by members of the transgender community. Written or dictated by trans people themselves, the project of compiling these took more than a year, according to Ms. Subramaniam.

A striking feature here was the right hand imprint on the papers as the trans people were asked to place their right hand filled with red paint before writing the stories. The hand imprint denotes a “slap on society,” Ms. Subramaniam said, noting that the colour red denotes anger.

The project of interviewing trans people was carried out by Sowndharya Gopi, Kanchana Venkatesan and Smita Avimukta from Sahodari Foundation along with Ms. Subramaniam. “We interviewed members of the transgender community from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and various migrant workers,” Ms. Subramaniam said.

The project is still ongoing and will be carried out across the country and even internationally, she said.

Ms. Gopi, who interviewed around 110 trans people for this project, compared this with the #MeToo movement. “Sexual harassment is being faced not only by women but also by trans people,” she said, as this project helps the members to expose those who committed such violent acts.

'Pride rally in August'

Noting that members of the LGBTQ community in the city have come forward and supported the Pride Festival, Ms. Subramaniam said that a pride rally will be conducted by the end of August. Various progressive organisations have come forward to support the rally, she said.

When asked about the core message of this Pride Festival, Ms. Subramanian said, “Mostly, the LGBTQ community is very creative. We contribute equally to the society through our talents, our resources [and] our knowledge. That should be acknowledged.”