Colours of Unity: WorldPride #GATHER #DREAM #AMPLIFY

WorldPride [18 February — 5 March, 2023] is a celebration of LGBTQIA+ communities around the world. It acknowledges the diversity, beauty and resilience of the LGBTQIA+ community. This year’s theme is “Gather, Dream, Amplify”, and it invites us to come together in solidarity to create a more just and equitable world.

“Gender exists on a spectrum. And it doesn’t matter if I ever completely understand them all or not. Because all human beings deserve equality.” ~ Zada Kent

Lakshmi Mohanbabu’s “Colours Of Unity” series is a commentary on issues of racial discrimination and gender bias. More often than not, we tend to be dragged into the abyss of isolation without recognising that we are all part of the same universe. We live in an ever-changing world where the only constant is change. The change we need is an acceptance of people of various cultures and getting rid of racial, gender and sexual bias for the human race to live in harmony.

“Colours of Unity” is a series of portraits designed to highlight individualism in a world where everyone’s lives are under microscopic scrutiny.

Socio-cultural influences affect human behaviour and the way human behaviour is passed down, which can be seen in the determination of what is age and gender appropriate. This can lead to biases, which define how people react to sexism, homophobia and sexuality. Even colours are associated with socio-cultural impacts, as Lakshmi explains:

“Colours worn for various occasions may be diametrically opposite from one group to another group of people. Black is the colour of mourning for some people, whereas white is for others. White may symbolise purity and is worn by brides in some cultures and yet viewed as an absence of colour and therefore worn by widows in other cultures, which may favour fire colours such as red and yellow. Blue is the colour for baby boys and pink for baby girls in western cultures but has no significance in other cultures.”

Lakshmi questions how these preconceived notions translate from culture to culture, where different traditions and beliefs are observed. For instance, self, anxiety and depression might not relate in the same context when observed in new cultural settings.