Music, Food, and Drag

This selection of documents, photographs, invite cards, and recordings showcases the affective relationships formed through Satrang events and the community they fostered. In “Ephemera as Evidence”, José Esteban Muñoz reminds us that a true queer community cannot be fully captured in the archive; however, this is the glue that holds it together–be it cooking or a night out. Many of these events were organized in partnership with other queer AAPI and Middle Eastern groups, showcasing the ways that various communities in LA collaborated and intermingled. International Mosaic was a yearly picnic where the myriad LGBTQ groups in LA could gather together and share food, music, and company. The integral part that food played is represented by two recipes from Sanjay Chhugani, considered the chef and the foodie of the whole community. He offers two of his own recipes as part of this exhibition. In the audio clip below, Chhugani, Manoj Kumar, and Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla speak about these early days of gathering.




















With support from:

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.
randomness