Raju Rage is an interdisciplinary visual artist, writer and community organiser who is proactive about carving space, self-representation and self-empowerment using art and activism to forge creative survival. They are actively, individually and collectively, trying to create opportunities where there is a lack, for QTIPOC artists who are often multi-marginalised for being queer and/or trans* and as people of colour.
Based in London and working beyond, they primarily use their non-conforming body as a vehicle of embodied knowledge; to bridge the gap between dis/connected bodies, theory and practice, text and the body and aesthetics and the political substance. They work in performance, sculpture, soundscapes and moving image, focusing on techniques of resistance and utilising everyday objects and everyday life experiences in communicating narratives around gender, race and culture. They investigate history, memory and trauma, with an emphasis on colonial legacy, its continuation and impact on the body and contemporary diasporic identity.
Finding strength in collectivity and collaboration they are an organiser and member of ‘Collective Creativity’ a QTIPOC arts collective. Recent exhibitions include ‘Do you keep thinking there must be another way’ at Mimosa House Gallery, 2019 and ‘Theres something in the conversation that’s more interesting than the finality of a title’, The Showroom, 2018. Raju was involved in QTIPOC Arts Group with a residency and showcase at Guest Projects London in September 2014 and a Performative Installation and exhibition at nGbK Berlin as part of ‘What is Queer Today is Not Tomorrow’ in Jul/Aug 2014.
Raju was a guest speaker at Enduring Connections, a collaborative event with Chelsea College of Arts (UAL), Iniva and Tate to mark Iniva’s move to John Islip Street in 2019.