Pride Month special: Photographing the sacred and the ordinary worlds of Assam’s transgender community in Gods on the Margins
They were keepers of the gate between the human and the divine, trusted advisors to emperors, and fierce warriors in ancient epics. Long before modern society relegated transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals to the margins, ancient civilisations revered them as essential threads in the tapestry of human existence.
From the Hijras of Hindu scriptures, who were granted the unique power to bless or curse by Lord Rama, to the Galli priests of Rome and the respected two-spirit traditions of Indigenous America, gender variance was rarely seen as a mistake. Instead, it was often viewed as a profound spiritual calling.
Yet, centuries of rigid socio-cultural shifts have rewritten these narratives, transforming the history of reverence into an ongoing struggle for basic survival. To look at the transgender community today is often to look at a marginalised collective fighting for legislative and social recognition. But a look back at our collective mythology and history reveals a different picture.
Through a photo series titled Gods on the Margins, shot exclusively for Indulge Express at Tritiyo Nivas, Assam’s first state-supported shelter home-cum-skill development centre, visual artist and filmmaker Chinmoy Barma, accompanied by Manoj Bania, Kamran Hussain and Ananya Dutta, explores how, even through the simplest daily chores, people from this community are still as relevant as the ones from mythology and history. Excerpts:
What inspired you to conceptualise this? How long did it take to plan and execute?
Chinmoy: The genesis of Gods on the Margins lies in a contradiction that has long fascinated me. In Indian mythology, gender-non-conforming figures such as Shikhandi, Brihannala, Mohini, and the devotees of Iravan occupy powerful and often sacred spaces. They are not peripheral figures; they are central to the unfolding of epic narratives. Yet in contemporary society, many transgender individuals continue to exist at the margins of public life. As a filmmaker, I have always been drawn to stories that exist between public perception and private reality. What we rarely see is the world they return to after their performance ends. We wanted to enter that world.
The project took several months of planning, conversations, location visits, visual research, and relationship-building before a single photograph was made. The greatest challenge was not technical, but ethical. We were entering a home. Trust had to be earned before photographs could be taken.
Why just with the transgender communities in Guwahati? Do you have plans to explore other Indian cities too?
Kamran: Guwahati was our natural choice because it is a city we know intimately, where meaningful relationships with the community members already exist.
However, this project was never intended to be confined to one location. The experiences of transgender communities differ across regions, cultures, and socio-economic contexts. Assam itself contains multiple narratives waiting to be explored.
You showed happy moments in the pictures. How happy are they really? Share some real-life BTS from the shoot.
Chinmoy: The happiness visible in the photographs is genuine, but like anyone else's life, it coexists with struggle.
Many images were lightly directed in terms of composition and framing, but the emotions themselves were authentic. Some of our most memorable moments happened between photographs.
A room that had been filled with laughter suddenly transformed into a space for conversations about discrimination, rejection and economic insecurity. Moments later, someone cracked a joke and the entire room erupted in laughter again. That emotional fluidity stayed with us. It reminded us that no community exists in a single emotional register. Their lives also contain joy, grief, humour, frustration, affection, and hope, often simultaneously.
In history and mythology, transgender people have played important roles. What role do you think they play in today's society?
Chinmoy: Historically, transgender communities have occupied unique cultural and social positions within South Asia. From Shikhandi or Brihannal in the Mahabharata to Mohini and the traditions surrounding Iravan worship, gender variance has long existed within the Indian imagination.
Today, I believe their role extends beyond ritual and tradition. Their very existence challenges rigid assumptions about gender, identity, family, and citizenship. They compel society to engage with deeper questions about inclusion and equality. In many ways, transgender communities force us to confront a fundamental constitutional question: Who gets to belong?
Is there any particular character or event that has been the root source behind this project?
Manoj: There was no single individual or event. Rather, the project emerged from a growing fascination with the distance between mythology and lived reality. We are a civilisation that has historically accommodated complex understandings of gender within its epics and folklore, yet contemporary society often struggles to extend the same acceptance.
The project was born from that contradiction.
It began as a visual inquiry into what exists between reverence and marginalisation.
Why did you specifically choose Tritiyo Nivas?
Kamran: Because Tritiyo Nivas represented the very heart of what we wanted to explore: home.
Popular imagery often depicts transgender individuals in public spaces such as traffic intersections, marketplaces, railway stations, or ceremonial gatherings. We wanted to move beyond those familiar visual narratives and explore the private worlds that sustain them.
The space allowed us to witness the everyday realities that often remain invisible to the larger public.
Any particular reason to choose members from just the transgender community? Is it part of any bigger project?
Ananya: The decision was intentional. We wanted to spend time engaging deeply with the community. At the same time, the broader themes of identity, dignity, memory, home and social belonging extend beyond this particular project. In that sense, Gods on the Margins forms part of a larger creative and documentary interest in lives that are frequently misunderstood, misrepresented, or overlooked.
Do you have plans to make such projects with other queer community members?
Ananya: Absolutely. The LGBTQIA+ spectrum encompasses a vast diversity of experiences, histories, and identities. No single project can adequately represent that complexity. We would very much like to continue exploring queer narratives in future projects, always with the same emphasis on nuance, collaboration, dignity and authenticity.
Chinmoy, since you are a filmmaker, do you have plans to shoot any documentary or film on this?
The possibility certainly exists. Countless stories, memories, and conversations could not fit within a single frame.
Film offers the possibility of voice, movement, duration and intimacy. It allows people to narrate their own experiences directly. We had planned a short film, a much-anticipated one, HIJRA. But in the last minute, the producer pulled out of the project. Since then, we have been waiting for a new producer. That accumulation of creative energy has somehow helped us shoot this photo series as well.
How did you approach photographing the community without reducing them to symbols or stereotypes?
Chinmoy: We consciously resisted two common visual traps.
The first was exoticisation, where transgender individuals become aesthetic symbols detached from reality.
The second was victimhood, where every image becomes a spectacle of suffering. Instead, we developed a visual language positioned between documentary realism and mythological memory.
Bedrooms, prayer corners, mirrors, windows, doorways, dining spaces, and thresholds became recurring motifs. These domestic spaces allowed mythology and everyday life to coexist within the same frame.
Was there a particular photograph from the series that surprised you during the shoot or changed your understanding of the community?
Chinmoy: The photograph that affected me most was the final image, The Unapologetic Joy.
After days spent thinking about mythology, constitutional rights, social exclusion, identity politics, and representation, the most powerful image turned out to be the simplest one: A group of people sitting together, laughing over a meal…Nothing dramatic, symbolic or performative. That photograph reminded me that beneath every social category lies a universal human desire: The desire to belong.
Photography has historically been used both to document and to stereotype marginalised communities. How did you balance documentation, artistic expression, and responsibility while creating this series?
Manoj: This was perhaps the most important question guiding the project.
Photography possesses enormous representational power. It can humanise, but can also objectify. It can illuminate, but can also be appropriate.
Throughout the process, we constantly asked ourselves: Who is this image serving? If a photograph prioritised aesthetics over dignity, it was discarded. The camera was not simply an observational device. It became a medium of dialogue.
What were the key visual references, photographers, paintings, films, or artistic traditions that influenced the look and mood of this project?
Chinmoy: The visual vocabulary emerged from multiple traditions: Indian miniature paintings, devotional iconography, documentary photography, ethnographic observation, and cinematic realism.
We were particularly interested in the visual intersection between the sacred and the ordinary. Yet our strongest influence came from the space itself. The weathered walls of the house, the prayer shelves, the mirrors, the evening light filtering through iron-grilled windows, the sounds of television, the rituals of dressing and undressing, and the rhythms of daily life ultimately shaped the visual language.
In many ways, the house designed the photographs more than we did.
Credits:
Concept and direction: Chinmoy Barma
Chief photographer: Manoj Bania
Associate photographer: Kamran Hussain
Coordinator: Ananya Dutta
BTS documentation & production support: Anisha Mazumdar
BTS visual storytelling & photo editing: Simanta Deka
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Directorate of Social Justice and Welfare Department, Assam
Tritiyo Nivas and their community members
Guruji: Mamoni Sultan
Meghna Kakoti
Lizu Mani Bora
Pranita Sarma, Legislative Department
Suchibrata Buzar Baruah
Manjit Das
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