Qasim Riza Shaheen (UK)
Queer Courtesan
Part of a body of work that was born out of a two-year process of working with the Khusra (transgendered) community of the red light district of Lahore, Pakistan from 2005–2007. Building relationships with a group of sex workers, the artist lived and experienced their unique transgenderism.
VIDEO INSTALLATION
Stains & Stencils 2007
Over the period that I was in Lahore I befriended six transgendered sex workers – Gogi, KumKum, Reena, Choti, Simi and Aashi. Six rooms, their occupation and me. These are six adaptations of a negotiated transient friendship that existed between us. I am a world away from theirs yet become a mediation of sort between them and you: watching them watching me re-tell their stories through my gaze. I am in their clothes, made up by them and carefully positioned and postured. As their clients, friends, pimps and madams carry on with their chores I offer you these visions and soundscapes of seduction. Listening through rooms, peering over balconies and looking out of windows – searching.
ONE-ON-ONE PERFORMANCE
This intimate yet voyeuristic performance plays out the relationship between dance and seduction. Viewing the performance through a two-way mirror the audience member is lured and seduced through expression and gesture. Selecting music from the vinyl collections of the artist and his father, a mix of Hindi and Western, classical and pop, the audience member decides the sound track for this one minute dance.
Part 2 of a New Moves International Commission for the NRLA.