Walking Upon Bodies is a conversational album by Sive that brings together anecdotes from lived experiences of artist-curator Vidisha Fadescha and actor, activist and writer Jyotsna Siddharth. Created during the pandemic, they speak of individual preoccupations, precarities and vulnerabilities, while drawing attention to the macro systems that govern the individual and other aspects of human beings. These conversations raise an alarm on the unaccounted, targeted lives of people especially, marginalised by caste, race and gender. They are packed in the form of an album with instructions to listen as a pivot from linearity of thoughts, opinions and feelings to new forms of learning and listening. Each track has themes that help us share better and self learn what it means to care, have a family, notions around death, the impact of borders, how digitiality is shaping our lives, the expanded ideas of race and such. We hope you find moments of hope, resilience and calmness in this apocalyptic world.
Instructions for listening – The order is suspended
We suggest you pick and listen to a combination, (at least two or more) tracks at a time. The selection of a single track can be made once or multiple times. Every unique selection of tracks will allow fresh perspectives and discussion to emerge.
Jyotsna Siddharth (She/They) is an actor, intersectional queer artist, activist and writer. They have worked with several non-profits, bilateral organizations and are currently India Lead for Gender At Work.
Jyotsna’s praxis spreads across intersections of social, art, activism, theatre, acting, development, caste-gender, feminist and queer spaces. Their interests are multidisciplinary, experimental and fluid from storytelling, embodied practice, acting, writing and building community dialogue to supporting systems for making multiple medium work collaborative, intersectional and inclusive. Jyotsna embodies and wishes to push boundaries of comfort, build nuances, criticality, compassion and resilience. They have been on several panels and actively involved with protests and social movements in India. Jyotsna’s work has featured in Times of India, The Hindu, Roundtable India, Savari, Feminism in India, Smashboard, Ashoka Literature Festival, Mid-Day, The Rights Collective UK, The Citizen, India Culture Lab, Khirkee Voice and many more. They are a co-founder of Sive (2017), founder of Project Anti Caste Love (2018), Dalit Feminism Archive (2019), Purple Library (2020), co- organized the first Indian adaptation of ‘A Rapist in Your Way’- the Chilean feminist collective Las Tesis in 2019, Delhi.
Jyotsna has Masters in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Social Anthropology from School of Oriental and African Studies, London and a Chevening Scholar (2014)
Vidisha Fadescha (They/Them) is an artist-curator working across arts and cultural disciplines. They focus on collaborations, collectives and experiences as a norm-critical pedagogy to Queer hegemonies. Reflecting upon intimacies on the dancefloor and how body movements are an archive of histories, violence and desire, in 2020, Fadescha exhibited “Burn All The Books That Call You The Unknown” in NSW supported by Parramatta Artists Studios and Australian Council for the Arts. They also installed a video at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi, titled “Qworkoholic Anonymous” that looks at queer labour and fatigue. Along with their collaborator Shaunak Mahbubani, they released “some dance to remember, some dance to forget” a performance video which illustrates trans intimacies and the role of law in affirming dignified lives for trans persons.
Vidisha opened an art & social space in New Delhi as “Party Office” in Jan 2020. As gatherings were suspended during the pandemic, they anchored their transfeminist and anti-caste interests through digital curatorial collaborations with Acud Macht Neu (Berlin), Nottingham Arts Mela (UK), Abr (India), @southasia.art and female:pressure (Berlin). Vidisha co-curated “Queer Futures Archive” (2020) and “Queer Futures Potluck Party” (2019) with Shaunak Mahbubani as After Party Collective. They also work closely with Jyotsna Siddharth building dialogues around caste and gender as Sive, a social-art lab and a transdisciplinary collective.
Fadescha is also a sound artist, DJ and an event host at clubs and other informal gatherings. They are a founding member of collectives in India that counter cis-het male dominant music industry and were an artist at “The Nightlife Residency” by iprojectspace and The Neighbourhood in Beijing (2019) and invited artist for “Today Is Our Tomorrow” by Publics and Museum of Impossible Forms in Helsinki (2019).
Credits
Cover Image Arun Vijai Mathavan from the series “Millenia of Oppression”, 2016.
Prelude for the tracks made with the field recording “Essential Services” by Redrum (Vidisha Fadescha), 2020.
People:
Project:
Walking Upon Bodies is a conversational album by Sive that brings together anecdotes from lived experiences of artist-curator Vidisha Fadescha and actor, activist and writer Jyotsna Siddharth. Created during the pandemic, they speak of individual preoccupations, precarities and vulnerabilities, while drawing attention to the macro systems that govern the individual and other aspects of human beings. These conversations raise an alarm on the unaccounted, targeted lives of people especially, marginalised by caste, race and gender. They are packed in the form of an album with instructions to listen as a pivot from linearity of thoughts, opinions and feelings to new forms of learning and listening. Each track has themes that help us share better and self learn what it means to care, have a family, notions around death, the impact of borders, how digitiality is shaping our lives, the expanded ideas of race and such. We hope you find moments of hope, resilience and calmness in this apocalyptic world.
Instructions for listening – The order is suspended
We suggest you pick and listen to a combination, (at least two or more) tracks at a time. The selection of a single track can be made once or multiple times. Every unique selection of tracks will allow fresh perspectives and discussion to emerge.
Jyotsna Siddharth (She/They) is an actor, intersectional queer artist, activist and writer. They have worked with several non-profits, bilateral organizations and are currently India Lead for Gender At Work.
Jyotsna’s praxis spreads across intersections of social, art, activism, theatre, acting, development, caste-gender, feminist and queer spaces. Their interests are multidisciplinary, experimental and fluid from storytelling, embodied practice, acting, writing and building community dialogue to supporting systems for making multiple medium work collaborative, intersectional and inclusive. Jyotsna embodies and wishes to push boundaries of comfort, build nuances, criticality, compassion and resilience. They have been on several panels and actively involved with protests and social movements in India. Jyotsna’s work has featured in Times of India, The Hindu, Roundtable India, Savari, Feminism in India, Smashboard, Ashoka Literature Festival, Mid-Day, The Rights Collective UK, The Citizen, India Culture Lab, Khirkee Voice and many more. They are a co-founder of Sive (2017), founder of Project Anti Caste Love (2018), Dalit Feminism Archive (2019), Purple Library (2020), co- organized the first Indian adaptation of ‘A Rapist in Your Way’- the Chilean feminist collective Las Tesis in 2019, Delhi.
Jyotsna has Masters in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Social Anthropology from School of Oriental and African Studies, London and a Chevening Scholar (2014)
Vidisha Fadescha (They/Them) is an artist-curator working across arts and cultural disciplines. They focus on collaborations, collectives and experiences as a norm-critical pedagogy to Queer hegemonies. Reflecting upon intimacies on the dancefloor and how body movements are an archive of histories, violence and desire, in 2020, Fadescha exhibited “Burn All The Books That Call You The Unknown” in NSW supported by Parramatta Artists Studios and Australian Council for the Arts. They also installed a video at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi, titled “Qworkoholic Anonymous” that looks at queer labour and fatigue. Along with their collaborator Shaunak Mahbubani, they released “some dance to remember, some dance to forget” a performance video which illustrates trans intimacies and the role of law in affirming dignified lives for trans persons.
Vidisha opened an art & social space in New Delhi as “Party Office” in Jan 2020. As gatherings were suspended during the pandemic, they anchored their transfeminist and anti-caste interests through digital curatorial collaborations with Acud Macht Neu (Berlin), Nottingham Arts Mela (UK), Abr (India), @southasia.art and female:pressure (Berlin). Vidisha co-curated “Queer Futures Archive” (2020) and “Queer Futures Potluck Party” (2019) with Shaunak Mahbubani as After Party Collective. They also work closely with Jyotsna Siddharth building dialogues around caste and gender as Sive, a social-art lab and a transdisciplinary collective.
Fadescha is also a sound artist, DJ and an event host at clubs and other informal gatherings. They are a founding member of collectives in India that counter cis-het male dominant music industry and were an artist at “The Nightlife Residency” by iprojectspace and The Neighbourhood in Beijing (2019) and invited artist for “Today Is Our Tomorrow” by Publics and Museum of Impossible Forms in Helsinki (2019).
Credits
Cover Image Arun Vijai Mathavan from the series “Millenia of Oppression”, 2016.
Prelude for the tracks made with the field recording “Essential Services” by Redrum (Vidisha Fadescha), 2020.
Dates:
30 Oct 2020
Location:
Online
