For the first time in India, the Gaysi family has put together a graphic anthology of all things queer — there’s fiction, true stories, cartoons, illustrations and more
Comics and graphics have been long hailed as a powerful form of storytelling, yet the genre has not been tapped in India to its full potential. The brains behind Gaysi Zine, a self-published annual magazine, thought it was time the visual narrative took over. For the first time in India, the Gaysi family has put together a graphic anthology of all things queer — there’s fiction, true stories, cartoons, illustrations and more.
Priya Gangwani says, “This graphic anthology is meant for all — queer, straight, tolerant, intolerant. Visual narratives are so powerful and can engage the readers in so many ways. While putting this together, we realised that there’s so much talent in India why doesn’t anyone think of making these anthologies It’s a two way dialogue despite it being in print.” Once the team had decided on a graphic anthology, the biggest challenge was to find the right artist for the right story. “There were quite a few pieces which were sent in as stories but needed a visual storyteller. Finding the right match between the story and the artist was like finding the right partner — exciting but painful sometimes,” she says adding, that the zine’s contributors are a melee of straight and queer, young and old, artists and writers.
Right from its inception in 2008, Gaysi Zine has been financing itself through crowd funding. The fourth edition was no different and the team managed to raise a sum of '2 lakhs in 45 days. The approach to the edition was simple as Priya puts it. “We started off with a simple question of ‘what is queer ’, addressed to artists and writers and welcomed everything inspired by any private written space. This graphic anthology is meant for all — queer, straight, tolerant, intolerant,” she says. The team drew some inspiration from a few standout graphic anthologies around the world. “We are crazy about graphic stories and comics. We have been reading many international ones like Y — The Last Man, Manhattan Project, etc. and have often wondered why are such stories not coming from India,” Priya adds.
Sreejita Biswas, founder of Striptease The Mag, compiled the zine in its current avatar while Ojoswi Sur illustrated the cover page (see photo on 21), which according to him is a ‘peek into a world that is very unusual and unique’. Sreejita says, “I learnt things good and bad and I had my fair share of Eureka moments as well as times of crippling self doubt. It’s important to talk about queerness, just as it is to talk about other issues that the society hails as taboo. The more you talk about it, the more sensitised people get, and the more sensitised people get, the less they hate.”
The growing short attention span of readers is a huge boost for this format to flourish, points out Siddhi Surte, who has been pursuing a career as comics designer for three years. The artist for Café Mondegar, one of stories in the edition, says, “There are many who are too lazy to read a novel or a story. This kind of an anthology is more like a picture book for adults,” she says. But there’s more to its appeal, than just being a quick-read. “The comic or graphic novel as a medium allows the reader to peek into the mind of the creator, and in many ways this makes it more personal than a standard text. In this anthology, you will find a perfect potpourri of compelling voices and illustrations, that makes the core message hard to ignore,” said C.G. Salamander, a writer and graphic novelist who is one of the zine’s many contributors.
The anthology has been seeing a good response, with 250 copies being shipped out within a week. Priya says, “The visual aspect of the third edition was very well received and it naturally evolved into the idea of making the fourth edition into a graphic anthology. And the The results are in front of you. Every piece is honest, tender, and an expression of one’s core belief system. In the entire process, a lot got reaffirmed. One, that queerness is very much a sensibility and a personal politics. We are all queer and when we approach this subject in a more inclusive way — we dissolve the divide between us and them.”
For the contributors too it was a fulfilling journey. Soumya Menon, who wrote Going The Solo Route, one of the many stories in the anthology, “I was immediately drawn to the concept and they liked my comic story idea too. This edition could manage to create a powerful impact due to the combination of graphics and words, which is very much necessary.” Siddhi adds, “It was a pretty challenging task as there were many contributors and we had to limit our work to six pages. It is really wonderful that the LGBT community issue now has a bigger platform, and many social networks are also playing a significant role to spread the word about our work.”
