Mia Jose

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA under Explorations will explore the dissonance between physical bodies and societal gender expectations through silent graphic narratives and a dynamic sculpture, drawing on queer and trans experiences to subvert conventional body representations. Mia Jose is the Coordinator for this project. 

Mia Jose (she/they) is a versatile artist and illustrator based in New Delhi, with a legal background. They earned a BA, LLB (Hons) from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in 2018, and transitioned into visual storytelling and design through freelance work and creative direction. Mia is currently working as an illustrator for Queerbeat Magazine and is a recipient of the Maraa Collective's Mirrors Fellowship for 2024, focusing on the theme of masculinities. They continue to contribute to graphic narratives on cultural and environmental issues. Their works have been exhibited in major galleries, including the American Cultural Centre (2024), the French Institute in India (2023), and Bangalore International Centre (2022). Mia's comics have been published in notable platforms such as Qomix and The Caravan. Given their experience, Mia Jose is best placed to be the Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

This project will explore the tension between the physical bodies and the societal expectations placed upon them, particularly in relation to gender performance. The project coordinator will be undertaking research into texts that govern gendered behaviour - legal, religious and cultural - as well as collecting lived narratives (including their own) of body dysphoria from queer and trans perspectives. Through two mediums—silent graphic narratives and a dynamic sculpture—the project will examine how the internal and external lenses on gender will create a continuous dialogue on human bodies as sites of conflict and transformation. By employing comics without text, the narrative strips will aim to elicit visceral reactions, using body horror and absurdity to push the limits of gender dysphoria to subversive extremes. Drawing on queer and trans lived experiences, the project will subvert conventional notions of body representation, aiming to reveal the ways in which bodies defy the expectations placed upon them.

The artistic process will involve the making of a sculpture that will bring the subversive aspects of body horror into a physical, interactive form. The sculpture will be modelled as a house that will have moving parts and explore the body in response to internal and external forces. Materials like cardboard and clay will be used, chosen for their ability to embody the physicality of different body parts. The project coordinator will combine research into gendered behaviour and lived narratives to inform the creation of the artwork that will aim to provoke thought on the fluidity and complexity of gendered bodies in contemporary spaces.

The outcome of the project will be in the form of an anthology of silent graphic narratives with around six stories, and a corresponding sculptural exploration of the narrative in physical form. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the graphic anthology, as well as photographic documentation of the sculptural exploration.  

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Practice programme in the manner in which it attempts to use artistic mediums that provoke visceral reactions, that will challenge rigid gender norms by exploring queer and trans experiences, provoking dialogue on body fluidity, and critiquing societal expectations through subversive artistic expressions, in the South Asian context.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm by convening an online gathering of artists coordinating Explorations projects. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

This project is made possible with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund.