Legendary queer artist Vivek Shraya to give virtual talk, movie screening

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Vivek Shraya will be giving a presentation for Fanshawe and Western students at an upcoming virtual movie screening.

Acclaimed queer and trans artist, Vivek Shraya will be paying a virtual visit to students at both Fanshawe College and Western University on Nov. 10. The event will include a screening of Shraya’s 2012 documentary, What I LOVE about being QUEER, followed by a broader discussion hosted by Shraya herself.

The event was coordinated by Gender-based Violence Prevention and Education coordinators at both Western and Fanshawe, with the hope of emphasizing the need for conversations about queer celebration in the face of ongoing homophobia and transphobia.

Shraya explained that the making of the film, for her, was an act of celebration in itself.

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“I made it because I found that every time I engaged with any kind of queer art, you know, whether it’s going to the theatre or watching a movie, the storyline was always tied to tragedy in some way,” she explained. “The character would die or the character would get kicked out or disowned, or they would kill themselves or they get beaten up. I just got so tired of just seeing a tragic narrative.”

Instead, What I LOVE about being QUEER features 34 queer people interviewed by Shraya in her Toronto kitchen, all answering one simple question: what do you love about being queer?

“When I think about the people in my life, you know, the richness that they bring, how awesome they are, how funny they are, I felt like I wasn’t seeing that in media,” said Shraya. “And so I thought, why not just ask people this sort of, what I imagined to be a very simple question? And that sort of became the foundation for this short film.”

Shraya hoped to highlight various aspects of the queer experience, but some topics were more easily spoken about than others. During the making of the film almost 10 years ago, Shraya recalled how difficult it was to get the subjects of the film to talk about sex.

“We see straight people hold hands all the time and make out in public all the time,” she said. “And we watch them have sex all the time on TV, but anything that’s about our sex or our sexuality or our desire, I think, is still really not acceptable. And so for me, I think it felt really, really important to make sure that sex was actually covered in the film because I still think that there’s so much shame around it.”

Students attending the event will get the chance to see the 18 minute short film, followed by a conversation about the making of the project with Shraya.

“The broader conversation will be me talking about the importance of the film,” said Shraya. “Because I think it’s so important. Like, the film is important, but I think understanding why this question was so significant to ask, is also equally important.”

Although some time has passed since the film’s initial release, Shraya believes its themes of queer joy, acceptance, and celebration are still relevant today.

“I personally continue to experience homophobia in the world, despite the privileges I have,” said Shraya. “And in those moments where I experience hate, it’s really hard not to go to a place of self-hate, to not hate myself for who I am and what I love about being. That is the point of the project, is to give people something to hold onto in those moments of homophobia.”

Students interested in attending the event can register at fsu.ca/events.