The Aftertaste of Loneliness

An attempt to decode my relationship with my hometown, as a queer person navigating grief in a familiar yet changed environment. While deeply personal, this project speaks to a broader sense of displacement and the complex negotiations of belonging.

My work draws on themes of gender, identity, connection, community, and memory.

The project I wish to develop began as an attempt to decode my relationship with my hometown during the pandemic. After building a life in Mumbai, I was forced to return home to Patna—a queer person navigating grief, memory, and loss in a familiar yet changed environment. The work uses mixed media—archival family photographs, illustrations, and new photography—as visual connectors. While deeply personal, the project speaks to a broader sense of displacement and the complex negotiations of ‘belonging’ that queer individuals around the world face.

Over the past few years, my visual practice has taken a more non-linear, multimedia approach, combining writing, photography, and painting. I’m now at a point where I want to synthesise these threads into a cohesive body of work that reflects both my inspirations and identity.

I have been working on multimedia projects with Indian queer artists and people in Mumbai. The current version of the project is an exploration of my own identity, and I want to develop this further into understanding the lives of queer migrants across India. If I had to describe the genre of this book, it is somewhere between magic realism and a journal entry, and I would be really keen on developing it with that in mind.

Attached is the latest draft of the book.