The Queer Muslim Project is Asia’s leading digital and cultural platform for queer, Muslim, and diverse voices, with a growing global community of over 70,000 people. Nurturing underrepresented LGBTQIA+ talent, it provides them with the tools, resources and networks to tell stories that can generate sustainable change. The project’s programs include Language is a Queer Thing, an international poetry forum supported by British Council, and the QueerFrames Screenwriting Lab, supported by Netflix.
The Queer Muslim Project uses art, culture, and digital media to challenge harmful stereotypes and norms, and to enable queer and Muslim communities to shape their own narratives. As visitors step into the space, they encounter three splendid curtain installations suspended from above. These curtains sway and undulate, unveiling images of queer Muslim individuals delicately overlaid onto fabric inspired by rich Islamic and South Asian heritage.
Photo: Simon Hadley
Photo: The Queer Muslim Project
The exhibit includes a separate room for the audience to engage with digital content produced by The Queer Muslim Project, demonstrating the impact of its work. The three grand curtains embody diverse motifs, patterns and weaving styles that eloquently depict the rich history of Islamic culture. The project represents profoundly the lived experiences of queer Muslims: shaped by their origins, the cultural shift they aim to create through their narratives, and the collective need to thrive and honor their rich diversity.
Bio
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Photo: RaeefManiza Khalid
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Maniza Khalid leads programs at The Queer Muslim Project. They are a Swedish Institute Leader Lab fellow and served as an advisor to queer donor organizations such as Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. They are currently part of a collective crafted by the Asia Feminist LBQ Network. With experience in organizations like Rekhta—leading Urdu’s renaissance in the mainstream—and with a background in literature studies, they infuse their love for literature and poetry in their activism.
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Photo: Rachita Sai BarakRachita Sai Barak
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Rachita is a trans-feminist filmmaker and creative director. She leads communications at The Queer Muslim Project, creating digital content and brand identity for their literature and cinema initiatives. Rachita holds a Master’s degree in filmmaking and has spent the last decade working on short films, documentaries, media research projects, and campaigns. Her work has been recognized by OECD Paris, BFI DocNext Lab, and Screen Test-UK’s national student film award.
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Photo: Pradeep GuhaRafiul Alom Rahman
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Rafiul Alom Rahman is the Founder-Director of The Queer Muslim Project. He brings a decade of experience in LGBTQIA+ rights organizing, arts management, and digital advocacy. Rafiul is a 2023 UN Minority Fellow, a 2022 CCP Fellow, a 2020 SI Leader Lab Fellow, and a 2018 Acumen Fellow. In 2020, he was recognized as a “Global Innovator” by the Human Rights Campaign for “pioneering an approach to countering extremism that utilizes alternative narratives around faith, sexuality, and gender expression.”
Credits
Founder and Director: Rafiul Alom Rahman / Communications Lead: Rachita Sai Barak / Program Lead: Maniza Khalid
Presented in the context of the European Digital Deal project. European Digital Deal is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport.
