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Journalism of Courage
It’s black its white, crooned the late pop icon Michael Jackson in his 1991 music video on racial peace and harmony. For most,it was an over exploited cliché that made the world happy briefly for the length of the music video. But almost twenty years later,the video holds resonance for Afro Modern dance performer,Diepiriye Sungumote Kuku,who will be collaborating with Dalit artist Savi Savarkar for a presentation titled Cross-dressing to Cross-over: Queering Michael Jacksons gender,race and class performance,slotted to unfurl at the M F Husain Gallery,Jamia Millia Islamia,on 18th and 23rd February.
There are deeper layers to the music video and Michaels transition from his Thriller days. Michaels queer,pimp-like black sexuality morphed to a more polished,feminine boyish drag that was acceptable. But underneath,lurked a well-concealed rage at being black and marginalised, says Kuku,who will be bringing to life Savarkars larger than life paintings and drawings of Dalit monks and fictional heroes.
All my projects are about social exclusion and Dalit aesthetics in the last 25 years, says Savarkar who was discovered by theatre activist and curator Lokesh Jain,and later supported by Mustafa Khan,of Jamia. Collaborating with Kuku has brought life to my work since his body and posture is so much like a living sculpture. It adds another layer to the paintings-our friendship has blossomed into a great working relationship, observes Savarkar.
Aside from the performance,Kukus talk will highlight the kind of solidarity expressed by black pop icons like Jackson and Tina Turner. Tina was a big lesbian icon in the 80s and 90s but she was really a projection of Ike Turners own inability to express his masculinity. The use of drag in pop music,whether its Tina,James Brown or Jack Wilson is really a compromise that people have made to become acceptable in dominant society, he observes.
Savarkars Expo opens on February 18,while Kukus dance performance is on February 23 between 3 and 4.30 pm at the M F Husain Gallery Jamia
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