A Defiant Act of Remembering

HISTORY can be unreliable. When we refuse to document, and risk erasing all the people and their stories, then truly history can be unreliable.

- DIYA MARIA GEORGE

HISTORY can be unreliable. When we refuse to document, and risk erasing all the people and their stories, then truly history can be unreliable. Writer Bell Hooks says that true understanding comes when we move beyond the centre and look at the margins, where the unheard voices lie. Thirunar Archives is a reclamation — a powerful collection of the stories and art of trans communities, preserving what history (or rather historians who pick and choose) would once rather forget. Contributing to this idea, Poongodi Mathiarasu and Akshara Sanal, MMF PARI Fellows (2023-2024), have taken it upon themselves to document the livelihoods, art, and socioeconomic realities of rural transgender folk artistes in Tamil Nadu. They ensure these voices, long overlooked, are finally given the space they deserve in the historical narrative. Through visual storytelling and oral histories, the project not only documents but also fights back against the erasure of trans lives and their contributions.

Pieced histories A broken mirror. Shattered into a web of reflections. The eyeshadow palette beside it, smudged and worn, shared story of the hands that had traced their own beauty. A powder brush lay abandoned on the black wooden pedestal, its bristles holding the residue of colour, as if waiting for a final touch-up before stepping into the light. This was the first image one saw at 'We Trans, Have Always Been Here', a photo exhibition curated as part of the Thirunar Archives. The display set the tone for what lay ahead —a history often fragmented, often erased, but pieced together with resilience.

The first photograph was of Karumbukadai MP Selvi, known to many as Selvi Amma. Captured mid-motion, she stirred an enormous cauldron of biryani. A community leader as much as a chef, she employed sixty-five people, including fifteen transgender individuals.