I’m Maulika Jain, born and brought up in New Delhi, India. I’m a spatial and narrative designer. My interests exist at the intersection of decolonising Indian queer histories, critical design, and feminist literature. I’ve done B.Des in Exhibition Design from National Institute of Design Ahmedabad, India and MA in Applied Imagination from Central Saint Martins, London, England.
My journalistic project, ‘Where are the Desi Queers?’ was shortlisted by European Press Prize in 2024. It asked questions about erasure of South Asian queer histories. My academic project, ‘National War Memorial Museum’, explores empathy in the narratives of war museums. Its vision is, ‘to build a world where war isn’t used to instil pride, patriotism or nationalism but is seen as a failure of empathy, humanity and diplomacy’. It was selected by Zip-Scene Conference 2023 and presented at Prague DOX Center for Contemporary Art and displayed by Museum of Contemporary Digital Art for their Digital Summer Show 2022 at Decentraland, Metaverse. I’ve also worked on multiple museum projects where I designed their narrative spaces through environmental graphics, interactive exhibits, and engaging visitor flow.
About the Artwork:
Title: Where is my queer history?
Medium: 3D
These two puzzles are of two paintings called, “Two Princesses in a Fond Embrace”, circa 1780, Jodhpur, India and “Radha and Krishna Dressed in Each Other’s Clothes”, circa 1800-1825, Himachal Pradesh, India. The intention of the artwork is for visitors to play and to start a conversation about Indian queer history.