Early Organizing
Satrang was formed in 1997 under the name TrikoneLA. In 2003, the name was formally changed to Satrang as a way to separate themselves from Trikone Bay Area. These materials show email exchanges, voting records, and conversations about the name change. A popular contender was Awaaz, meaning “voice.” One idea was to make Awaaz the political arm and Satrang the social arm. This debate about the purpose of the organization–a social gathering space for parties or a political organizing space–was common among both new and established gay and lesbian organizations. Whether or not these concepts are ever fully separable is an ongoing debate.
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DesiQ is a conference that brings together queer-identified individuals from the broader South Asian community, most of whom live in North America. Trikone organized the first gathering in the Bay Area in 1995 under the title Pride Utsav, meaning “festival, celebration.” It was renamed DesiQ in 2000, and many members of Satrang attended. The 2006 and 2013 iterations also took place in the Bay Area. The 2020 edition, scheduled to take place in Austin, TX, was postponed due to COVID-19. More recently, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) has hosted similar conferences.
Satrang was formed in 1997 under the name TrikoneLA. In 2003, the name was formally changed to Satrang as a way to separate themselves from Trikone Bay Area. These materials show email exchanges, voting records, and conversations about the name change. A popular contender was Awaaz, meaning “voice.” One idea was to make Awaaz the political arm and Satrang the social arm. This debate about the purpose of the organization–a social gathering space for parties or a political organizing space–was common among both new and established gay and lesbian organizations. Whether or not these concepts are ever fully separable is an ongoing debate.
DesiQ is a conference that brings together queer-identified individuals from the broader South Asian community, most of whom live in North America. Trikone organized the first gathering in the Bay Area in 1995 under the title Pride Utsav, meaning “festival, celebration.” It was renamed DesiQ in 2000, and many members of Satrang attended. The 2006 and 2013 iterations also took place in the Bay Area. The 2020 edition, scheduled to take place in Austin, TX, was postponed due to COVID-19. More recently, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) has hosted similar conferences.
Curators
Aziz Sohail is a Pakistani-born curator and writer whose research and resultant projects honor and recognise the power of queer & feminist collectivity, sociability, joy and wayward encounter. They are currently a PhD Candidate in Curatorial Practice at Monash University, Australia.
Alexis Bard Johnson is the Curator at the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries. She oversees the exhibitions, programs, and art collection at one of the largest repositories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer materials in the world. She most recently curated Looking for Lesbians, Six (Linear) Feet and the online exhibition Safer at Home. She holds a PhD in Art History from Stanford University and a BA from Princeton University.