Catalogue / Shakibul Islam
Shakibul Islam
Queer as folk
Black swans, seahorse fathers and a crowd with nothing to hide
Grey people stand at the left edge, still as old photographs.
Then the colour starts: a river of orange bodies, a disco ball, a dancer in a white skirt.
A man lies on the green grass with small dolls in his hands.
Two black swans bend their necks toward each other.
Purple orchids open wider than faces.
Gold light pours over a goddess and her crowd.
No one here is asking to be forgiven.
The work
Shakibul Islam paints Queer as Folk in nine days. He works eighteen to twenty hours a day in a corridor of the architecture building at his college in Mumbai. The diptych is a celebration. Nobody hides here. People dance, bathe and embrace among black swans, seahorses and lilies. Black swans often pair with partners of the same sex. Seahorse fathers carry the young. Islam paints them as family, not as decoration. Like a temple mural, the canvas has no single centre.
In the artist’s words
“I work primarily in oil, acrylic and gouache, using a bright colour palette to address visibility and judgment. Just as it is difficult to hold one's gaze on bright colour, society similarly struggles to look at queer lives directly. I am also researching queerness beyond the human, in nature and other living beings, to expand the conversation.”
- Theme
- Queer life and nature
- Material
- Oil on canvas (diptych)
- Size
- 213.36 × 487.68 cm
- Year
- 2026
- Edition
- 1
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- Sir J. J. School of Art, Architecture and Design, Mumbai
- From
- Mumbai
- Code
- RC-644
- @realshakibulislam
Meet the artist
