Changing the world and creating art are only two passions of artist and activist Anil Persaud, who is seeking to use his artistic talent to raise awareness about social issues and human rights.
Persaud, 22, the Founder and Managing Director of Empowering Queers Using Artistic Learning (EQUAL) Guyana, told Stabroek Weekend that almost all of his life he has had the two passions.
Growing up in Albouystown, Persaud said, gave him the opportunity to witness many social ills and it was seeing those things that inspired him to try to help people. He added that during that time, he was grateful to have been privileged to have access to information and the answers he needed to the questions he had were willingly answered by his mother. As a result, he said, he started to understand what was happening around him and he became sympathetic toward the people who were being victimised.
However, in his own household, his mother was unknowingly feeding the flames of another of his passions when she brought him crayons and taught him and his older brother the art of painting during the holidays. He grew to love painting and realised that he had the talent for it. Since then art has always been a part of his life.
As he got older, Persaud was uncertain of his way forward. Despite that he was determined not let go of his dream of helping others and he toyed with the possibility of becoming a lawyer. However, in the end, the teen realised that being a lawyer wasn’t for him and at the age of 17 he enrolled at the University of Guyana to pursue studies in the social sciences, a move he said that many persons questioned.
However, that did not deter Persaud from his path. “So when I went into social work, people were always second guessing why I [was] in it because it’s not necessarily the most recognised profession in Guyana for whatever reason ’cause it’s so important but I knew that this is what I wanted to do. I knew that I wanted to create change and help people to create change,” he said, before noting that during it all art has remained in his heart.
Persaud then disclosed that he has been in the human rights arena for three years now and he has since found a way to intertwine his two passions before adding that there is a positive message behind all of his artwork, which he uses to bring awareness about various social issues and human rights and he could not be more proud of what he is accomplishing.
Before he merged his two passions, however, Persaud said that being an activist and working as a social worker was very time-consuming and he didn’t get to do much artwork. It was this situation that in part led to his founding EQUAL Guyana, which has seen art becoming a constant part of his life again.
He said that currently most of the artwork that he does is for and within the organisation. He said some of the activities that are being done at the organisation are art tutorials for groups of people and they teach the group how to create paintings and how to improve their skills and talents. “My hobby and passion has always been art and I love the art. Social work is my profession but I love the arts and so I thought that it was very important to re-introduce art into Guyana and into the human rights realm because we have been doing so much work for human rights and so much is going on in the human rights realm. We have ignored the arts for so long and the arts are very important because they raise awareness, they break boundaries and barriers. People who did not have the opportunity to go to school and as a result are illiterate or semi-literate can look at art and really understand it and understand what it’s is saying and that’s why it is important. Personally, that’s my favourite use for art, for it to really send an important message, not just creating a piece and leaving it at home or hanging it up. The passion is for art and no matter what my kind of pieces I create, there will always be a message behind those pieces,” Persaud passionately stated.
A sense of belonging
Some of Persaud’s artwork was on display at exhibition that was hosted at the Moray House trust on Camp Street, Georgetown last Tuesday by the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) and EQUAL Guyana. The exhibition was held to conclude their sixteen days of activism and Persaud said that all the pieces were inspired from different factors as it relates to human rights. “It’s about human rights all together but in each case there are a little elements that are influencing each piece. We are working with so many organisations and so many people so we are taking these little influences from them and putting them into the pieces. But overall the theme of the collection is the awareness, sensitization and human rights,” he said.
The exhibition coincided with the observation of International Human Rights Day, under the theme “Youth Standing Up for Human Rights.
“So in the room tonight there are many people who don’t come out to other types of activities but they feel the sense of belonging where there is art and I feel that it is important and people are appreciating it. It’s not new art. Art like this has existed forever but we are bringing it back into the movements now so that’s why it may seem new because people have ignored art in this sense for so long and so they are appreciating the art,” he stated.
He added that they are hoping to make the exhibition an annual event but he said that implementation of the idea will depend on resources and other persons being available. “My hope, personally, is that we can do it bigger and bigger until we get to a point that it’s not just visual arts but also poetry and dance and music and spoken works and other creative things,” he said.
The 16 paintings featured in the exhibition, which explore themes of sexuality, health, pleasure, reproductive rights, gender equality, empowerment, and indigenous rights, were all been created by Persaud who said that he shouldered the responsibility because some messages can be misconstrued easily.
“It is important to use art to break boundaries and break barriers to create positive things because art goes across languages, socio-economic classes, education, races, sexual orientation, gender and it’s just for everyone,” Persaud said while addressing the crowd that were present at the exhibition.
He also lamented that the arts in Guyana have been undermined and treated as “second class” and not given the credit that they deserve for the power that they have.
After his brief speech at the opening, he led the gathering to each painting and explained what each depicted. Among them was “Queer Women,” which Persaud said was done because queer women are not recognised for their femininity and are not seen as equals to their heterosexual counterparts. It’s important for persons to recognise the visual image of femininity and that all women, regardless of sexual orientation, should be allowed to be involved in movements and allowed access to various types of services, he said.
Another, which is titled title “Pregnancy,” depicts a silhouette of a pregnant woman coming from roots and it was done to highlight the beauty of pregnancy and the formation of life.
The painting titled “Gender-Based Violence,” Persaud added, is not limited to gender-based violence but is also about emotional trauma, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse, among other things. He said many women that are facing those types of abuse are expected to bring light to a situation or to keep families together.
Eight of the paintings were donated to various non-governmental organisations who play a part in advocating for human rights, while the remaining eight were put up for sale. During the exhibition, Persaud said, three of the eight have already been bought.
Persaud said that since founding EQUAL Guyana, he has since embarked on other projects and has worked alongside other organisations to facilitate workshops on gender and sexual diversity, which he says is an issue that really needs to be discussed in Guyana so that Guyanese can recognise and appreciate sexual differences.
