Eros And Its Discontents explores the lives and desires of individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community living in India. This series of performative portraits embodies struggles of identity, hopes and dreams, pleasures and pain, acceptance and rejection. The people in the images are treading a psychological minefield; whose lives are a crisscross of complexities arising out of a religious, conservative and homophobic culture and rhetoric present in contemporary Hindu communities in India.
In 2018, the Indian Supreme Court struck down ‘Section 377’ of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised same-sex relations between consenting adults. This law, originally put in place under British Colonial rule, was used to prosecute members throughout India’s diverse LGBTQIA+ community, from same-sex couples to individuals with third gender identities. The legacies of such British colonial laws continue to persist today in the form of discrimination, violence, and even death. Whilst in historical and ancient Hindu tradition, varied artefacts and artworks depict homoeroticism, same-sex partnered activities, celebrate third-gender individuals and Hijra people, and document mythologies, stories and narrative traditions in which gods and mortals change gender identities. However, centuries of foreign rule separate modern Hindus from their ancient forefathers, and many contemporary Hindus incorporate antagonism towards the LGBTQIA+ community into their religious beliefs.
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