Being Queer, Being Home 15th June - 2nd July Queerness exists for us as an ideality that can be distilled from the past and used to imagine a future. – José E. Muñoz Historically, non-conforming genders and sexualities have faced opposition from contemporary hegemonic powers and social stigma. However, as a result of continued activism, creative interventions and intellectual engagements by the LGBTQIA++ communities, ‘queer’—the nineteenth-century slur— has now emerged as the umbrella term for people non-conforming to patriarchal hetero-normativity. In this sense, besides being a space for non-conforming or non-binary people worldwide, ‘being queer’ opens up a new horizon imbued with potentiality. In other words, being queer is ‘being home’ for a large group of people. Metaphorically speaking, thus, by being queer, some are already at home. But what does being home mean in the physical sense? ‘Home’, as we know it, is commonly affected by conventional heteronormativity. Being queer in the home environment may or may not come with the cosiness and comfort that is often associated with ‘being home’, as the idea of ‘home’ itself predominantly remains linked to the notion of the family as a hetero-normative institution. What does then ‘Being Home, Being Queer’ in today’s context mean, especially given one’s own unique sets of beliefs and experiences? It would also be interesting to observe one’s queer journey over time as one relates to “home” and the many ideas and experiences it stands for. In the second year of celebrating LGBTQIA++ Pride Month in June 2022, Kolkata Centre for Creativity organised the second edition of Learn Togetherness in collaboration with Sappho for Equality. KCC invited visual and performing art creations based on the idea of ‘home’ explored through the queer lens for the exhibition themed ‘Being Queer, Being Home’. Paintings, photographs, sculptures, installations, writings, and performance pieces that explore ‘home’ in relation to being queer—from the perspective of a queer person in a conventional home to the topic exploration of how a queer home might be—were all welcome. A selection of works of art had been showcased. From poems and letters exploring the concept of ‘Being Queer, Being Home’ to artworks made with found objects and even body hair, the art creations stretched and bent the ideas of normativity leading one on a self-reflexive and contemplative journey. The exhibition also featured a production created specially for Learn Togetherness II—Ghar. The theatre performance by Santoshpur Anuchintan dealt with this crisis of finding ‘home’ as a queer individual, a place where one can truly feel safe.