Event Details
Please join us on June 15, 2023 at 4pm PDT for the launch of the digital exhibition, Satrang at 25: Queer South Asian Diaspora(s) in Context. This online exhibition is hosted by SAADA (South Asian American Digital Archive) and made possible by Satrang and ONE Archives at the USC Libraries. This exhibition originally debuted in Los Angeles, March-May 2022, at ONE Archives at the USC Libraries. We are delighted to make a version of it permanently available through SAADA. To celebrate the launch, we will have a demonstration of the digital exhibition and reflections by scholars, artists, and activists including Kareem Khubchandani, Sheena Malhotra, Debanuj DasGupta, and D’Lo with contributions by Natasha Bissonauth and Supriya Bharadwaj. The event will be hosted by co-curators of the exhibition, Alexis Bard Johnson and Aziz Sohail. The celebration will take place at 4pm California time/7pm East Coast time on Zoom. You can register here. Make sure you tune in for a great time and an exciting announcement!
This exhibition traces the affective history of Satrang and its relationship to broader queer diasporic South Asian worldmaking. Satrang (seven colors), formerly named TrikoneLA, has been the primary queer South Asian community organization in Southern California since 1997. Its founding was catalyzed by Trikone (triangle), a magazine that began in 1986 in the Bay Area and circulated throughout North America, Europe, and South Asia. While Satrang originated as a group of individuals getting together to share potluck meals, it has grown to become an organization that marches in Pride Parades, engages in outreach, and hosts special events for families and youth. Through magazines, pamphlets, photographs, and oral histories, it presents key moments in the organization's development, including its early evolution, important social and community gatherings, marches, and workshops. While gesturing to the past, the exhibition also looks to the future, asking how Satrang may continue to evolve. This presentation explores: how can an LGBTQ community organization hold intergenerational memory? How does it simultaneously celebrate collective joy and also give space to grief? And how does it respond to the needs of a diverse and complex community, creating a safe space for all?
Flyer design courtesy of Asad Ali.
