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Conversation with Batul, a Delhi-based Muslim Indian LGBTQIA+ activist in transition, as she reflects on her powerful personal story and the causes she defends.

This event is part of the ongoing photo exhibition ‘Batul’ currently on display at the SOAS Gallery until the 22 of March 2025. During the conversation, Ondine de Gaulle, the project’s producer, and Paul Mesnager, the photographer behind ‘Batul’, will discuss the inspiration and vision that brought the project to life. Batul will then share her journey of self-discovery and delve into key themes such as queer history in South Asia, the intersection of queer and Muslim identities, and their evolving role in contemporary India.

This conversation with Batul will be followed by a Q&A with Dr. Richard Williams, a cultural historian of music in South Asia.

Meet the speakers

Paul Mesnager is a photographer based between Tunis and Marseille, France. With a background in geopolitics, he develops a photographic practice focused on issues of social and political domination. His recent work explores repression policies of exile in Calais, Sub-Saharan communities in Tunisia, sexual minorities in Kashmir, and the materiality of political power through the analysis of satellite imagery.

Ondine de Gaulle holds degrees from Sciences Po Grenoble and SOAS, University of London, in Middle Eastern Studies and Comparative Literature with a focus on South Asia. Her work explores topics related to minority identities in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent and Urdu literature. In 2019, she published her first essay on the Jewish-Iranian community.