Shisha, the international agency for contemporary South Asian crafts and visual arts, has commissioned artist Qasim Riza Shaheen to produce a new body of work that responds to the Khusra communities in Lahore, Pakistan. In all its splendour, masquerade, in one form or another, takes the mind’s eye into contemplation. What are often revealed are stains and stencils – conspicuous, indelible, and at times ornamental – marks of identities that dance through the contradictions of their religious, political and cultural landscape.

A Khusra’s choice to adorn himself in women’s attire is not necessarily recreational, but perhaps more to do with personal reaffirmation in societies where institutional doors are often closed. Beyond being the devotees of shrines and decors of ceremonies; Khusras are an embodiment of a lifestyle that demands both attention and solidarity in its choreography, rituals and public behavior.

The exhibition and forthcoming accompanying publication take the Khusra communities, artist and spectators into a reflective space, where gender is negotiable and offer an invitation to explore alternative ways of looking at one another, the ‘other’ and ourselves. ‘Khusra’ is a pejorative term and for that reason alone this exhibition strives to displace it.

Khusra: Stains and Stencils is part of Shisha’s Parampara programme, and the last in a series of six solo exhibitions by British South Asian artists.

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