Juice: Re-Imagining South Asian Brown Identities through Digital Art-Based Methods | Anushray Singh

Anushray Singh is an Indian filmmaker, media professional, educator and writer based in Canada. He has received his MFA in Film & Media Arts from the University of Windsor (2020) and B.Tech in Civil Engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology (2017). His teaching, art practice and writing on film, media and South Asian cultures have been realized through affiliations across academia, digital media platforms, publications and non-profits across India, Canada, the UK, the US, Austria, and Hungary. His filmography includes SSHRC funded short documentary The North Was Our Canaan (2020) and Zuerst/First (2019): Official Selection Arts Visual & Poetry Film Festival Vienna.

The work highlights the South Asian diaspora’s heterogeneous nature through millennial and generation Z creators living worldwide, feeding into a future conception of art-based methods and activities. Highlighting one particular digital space, “Juice Droplet,” we navigate the complexities involved in identity and place-making for South Asians. The South Asian diaspora is a collective term used for people of origin from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri-Lanka. Also, twice removed populace living in Guyana, Caribbean, Africa (East and South) and the Middle East. Juice Droplet noticeably acts as a digital “Third Space,” facilitating expressions rooted in dismantling hegemonic South Asian perspectives grounded in stereotypes, perceptions and prejudices. At the cusp of pandemic around March 2020, Juice began its operations; like many such of its kind, the platform already developed its workspace through video meetings (Zoom) and communicating with contributing artists primarily over emails. Such initiates participation spanning across several nations, transcending physical boundaries connecting with widespread South Asian diaspora. The paper also highlights both the need and the rise of South Asian and other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) centric digital spaces (social media collectives, magazines, podcasts etc.). Studying the inception of Juice acting as a digital “Third Space” invites us to see the intricate and everchanging nature of South Asian identities as imagined by young generations living in South Asia and outside it. Through Juice, we also navigate the futuristic multidisciplinary aspect of art-based methods in communicating brown South Asian identity in multiple contexts: whiteness, generational divide, immigrant experiences, social justice, LGBTQ+ solidarity, racial connotations and casteism

Check out juice here

Biography

Anushray Singh is an Indian filmmaker, media professional, educator and writer based in Canada. He has received his MFA in Film & Media Arts from the University of Windsor (2020) and B.Tech in Civil Engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology (2017). His teaching, art practice and writing on film, media and South Asian cultures have been realized through affiliations across academia, digital media platforms, publications and non-profits across India, Canada, the UK, the US, Austria, and Hungary. His filmography includes SSHRC funded short documentary The North Was Our Canaan (2020) and Zuerst/First (2019): Official Selection Arts Visual & Poetry Film Festival Vienna.

Artist Statement

The work highlights the South Asian diaspora’s heterogeneous nature through millennial and generation Z creators living worldwide, feeding into a future conception of art-based methods and activities. Highlighting one particular digital space, “Juice Droplet,” we navigate the complexities involved in identity and place-making for South Asians. The South Asian diaspora is a collective term used for people of origin from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri-Lanka. Also, twice removed populace living in Guyana, Caribbean, Africa (East and South) and the Middle East. Juice Droplet noticeably acts as a digital “Third Space,” facilitating expressions rooted in dismantling hegemonic South Asian perspectives grounded in stereotypes, perceptions and prejudices. At the cusp of pandemic around March 2020, Juice began its operations; like many such of its kind, the platform already developed its workspace through video meetings (Zoom) and communicating with contributing artists primarily over emails. Such initiates participation spanning across several nations, transcending physical boundaries connecting with widespread South Asian diaspora. The paper also highlights both the need and the rise of South Asian and other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) centric digital spaces (social media collectives, magazines, podcasts etc.). Studying the inception of Juice acting as a digital “Third Space” invites us to see the intricate and everchanging nature of South Asian identities as imagined by young generations living in South Asia and outside it. Through Juice, we also navigate the futuristic multidisciplinary aspect of art-based methods in communicating brown South Asian identity in multiple contexts: whiteness, generational divide, immigrant experiences, social justice, LGBTQ+ solidarity, racial connotations and casteism

Check out juice here