To occupy space—resolutely, assertively, queerly—is an act of resistance. Space here is not merely a physical entity, but a hegemonic tool that continues to marginalise those who don’t conform to accepted ways of being—in terms of caste, class, gender or sexuality. Bringing those subalterns who can only exist in the ‘gaps between the stories’ into the spotlight is a necessary act of reconstitution towards a more inclusive, pluralistic world. Such activism, creative production and advocacy through art, which operates from the margins as a mainstream, was at the centre of Occupy! Making Space Of/For/By the Subaltern at ADFF:STIR Mumbai 2025.

The panel, moderated by Ranjana Dave, managing editor (Arts), STIR, brought to the stage Poornima Sukumar and Karnika Bai of the Aravani Art Project; Priya Dali, creative director, Gaysi Family; Siddhesh Gautam, artist, writer and Ambedkarite; and Sudheer Rajbhar, designer and founder, Chamar Studio to reflect on what it means to challenge hegemonic narratives and demand visibility in often gatekept institutions through their artistic practices. For an architecture festival broadly centred on the built environment, this session of the curated talks programme, ~log(ue) at the National Centre for the Performing Arts’ (NCPA) Little Theatre in Mumbai, considered instead how space is deeply imbricated and reproduced in questions of identity and belonging. The ~multilog(ue), by all means necessary—and in that sense fervent—in a world of deepening sectarian, casteist and nationalist divides, invited audiences to consider plural connotations of space.

It is not that people who come from marginalised communities do not create or do not know how to create. It is just that they do not have the [appropriate] jargon…Most of the time when we speak in this language to these people about jargon, those rooms are cold. – Siddhesh Gautam

Reflecting on his time in design schools like NID (institutional spaces where privilege and hierarchy are writ into the brick walls), Gautam underscored the central question for the panel—How do you communicate when language is denied to you? When language is wielded as a tool to bar access to resources and support of any kind, how do you begin to build and sustain community? Returning to this contestation in closing, for Gautam, the answer lies in joy, to a degree, in song and dance as acts of solidarity.

The aesthetics of the ‘marginalised’ then, could be understood as joyful, exuberant even, unrelenting. This emerging discourse asserts that we belong—in the streets, in schools, in bureaucratic chambers—in full view in public space. We deserve the dignity of history. For the Aravani Art Project, a public art collective run by trans and cis women, founded by Bangalore-based artist Sukumar, it is this impetus that drives their work. The collective was formed as a means for people from the transgender community to come together and engage in urban art interventions in different cities across India. A platform to show how art and vitally collaborative creation can and will, in good time, hopefully, be able to imagine new, inclusive worlds where everyone is seen.

Visibility wahi hi ayi meri ki maine khud ko badla. Logo ke soch ko badalne ke liye hum nahi bane hai, khud ko badalne ke liye bane hai. Logo ki soch hume dekhke hi badlegi…Jab hum khud badlenge toh shayad duniya apne aap uss soch mai dal jayegi. (My visibility came from the fact that I worked towards change for myself. I didn’t do it to change people’s mindset, but for myself. When we change ourselves, maybe the world will see us as we do.) – Karnika Bai

Further elaborating on what the aesthetics of a new imagination look like, for and by voices who have so far been denied recognition in the annals of history, Dali spoke about the vitality of ‘mundane’ emotions, of the everyday hopes, fears and anxieties that people from the LGBTQIA+ community have to negotiate. Highlighting her work with the community platform for desi queers, Gaysi, Dali spoke about how visual art is necessary to foster understanding. On the other hand, for Rajbhar, whose Mumbai-based design brand, Chamar Studio, has been thrust into the limelight of late, inclusivity means to first recognise and then collectively counter the ‘error in the system’.

When I started working with established artists, I found the error in the system, because there is no recognition, no credits, nothing…[It was then that] I raised the question, what is authenticity, and who are the makers? – Sudheer Rajbhar

It’s important here to also mention the languages through which the conversation at the event unfolded. Most of the session was conducted in Hindi, not merely as an act of convenience but as another method to challenge the unspoken ‘rule’ that panels such as these must conform to a certain formality endowed by the language of the oppressor. The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. The panellists reminded the audience that it is only by active, persistent resistance to what is considered the norm, through collective imagination and solidarity as active carework, that we can conceive of a future for and with everyone.

With ADFF:STIR Mumbai geared to return to the National Centre for the Performing Arts in 2026, we look back to key conversations from the ~log(ue) programme and highlights from the 2025 edition. Stay tuned for more throwbacks and exciting updates to be released in the coming weeks.