arjunraj

arjunraj

‘Liminalty’: An artistic inquiry as a feature film; Collaborative storytelling and decolonial filmmaking

arjunraj is a filmmaker, visual storyteller, multi-media artist and pedagogist who has studied Visual Anthropology at University of Münster and was awarded the Crossing Borders fellowship. With experience of twelve years in filmmaking working in the direction department of India’s largest crowdfunded and crowdsourced documentaries, arjunraj currently works at the intersection of art and academia. arjunraj’s works are deeply rooted in fracturing the colonial psyche by queering it. Identifying as a gender-non-conforming body using no pronouns, arjunraj is on a long-term journey understanding the ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ of a ‘liminal body’. arjunraj has taught decolonial filmmaking practices at the University of Freiburg and Freie Universität Berlin.

Project

Körperkino is a concept I use to describe the embodied feelings when one is immersed in a feeling of elation and expansion that happens after the -aha moment of understanding the perspective of an other, in relation to the self. Othering is a two way process and a universal phenomenon. From interpersonal hierarchies to international borders, ignorance enables creation and perpetuation of systems of othering. In a world torn by othering, I chose to find ways on how we can collaborate. Using collaborative storytelling methods I’m making Liminality, an artistic film & research project collaborating with 7 trans*gender-liminal bodies, who are seeking liberation by finding belonging in their bodies. By amplifying the marginalised voice of the systematically oppressed & by humanizing the ignorance of the oppressor, I’m creating stories that act as a bridge for these perspectives to exist and interact with each other so as to how to overcome interpersonal barriers to transform our behaviour.