Queer South Asian Photo Series - Bisma Jay's Portfolio

This photo series features queer South Asian people within Toronto. Growing up, I barely saw any positive representation of queer South Asians in the media. I wanted to connect with folks from my community and hear their stories. This photoseries is a reasource that is meant to bring our communities together and provide positive representation of queer South Asian lives. I hope to continue this project further and compile a series of images of South Asian queers from all around the world.

Alisha and N

Alisha was once described by their mother as “a cool rocker dude.” They have just completed a film BA at U of T and is absolutely exhausted. In their spare time, they knit, craft and catch up on TV. In the future, they hope to magically find the motivation to apply to law school.

Saba is a Queer British-Pakistani artist born in Leeds, UK. Working in abstracts, their art is born from their diagnosis of Fibromyalgia - a chronic pain condition which effects both physical and mental functioning. Alongside their art, Saba also writes identity-based poetry and essays, tackling issues such as race, gender, sexuality and disability.

Sanchari Sur is a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow in fiction. Her work can be found in Toronto Book Award Shortlisted The Unpublished City, Arc Poetry Magazine, Humber Literary Review, Prism International etc. She is a PhD candidate in English at Wilfrid Laurier University, and the curator/co-founder of Balderdash Reading Series.

Marishka Zachariah is a non-binary Indian Canadian diaspora game designer and digital artist. As a graduate from OCAD U’s Digital Futures program, Marishka has showcased interactive work in Virtual Reality in numerous showcases, including CES, SXSW and TCAF’s Comics x Games. Marishka is currently working at Crows Crows Crows, and focusing on bringing more marginalized voices and designers included into games and the games industry.