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Writer Gayathiri Kamalakanthan's poetic response to portraits by Charan Singh, exploring slippery ideas of naming, translation and representation
Charan Singh, Naagrani and Roopa, 2026
Here, writer Gayathiri Kamalakanthan provides a poetic response to the above portrait by Charan Singh, which features in Autograph's current exhibition by the artist, Your Tongue in My Mouth. They explore the complexities of naming and representation across languages and processes of translation.
This text was produced alongside Kamalakanthan's creative writing workshop, Voices for Dissent, Voices for Desire, which will take place at Autograph on 14 November 2026.
Vithyasamaana Aakal [A Different Kind of People]
After Naagrani & Roopa (2026) by Charan Singh
When I first hear it this phrase I think I don’t like it
its judgement its setting apart the alien within it
Vithyasamaana aakal meaning
a different kind of people a strange people
people of strangeness
But there is no neat way to describe to name to translate
in this language so utterly unreasonably concerned
with neatness naming translation
I type into my search bar shades of green sari colour
But emerald juniper or seaweed are not the purplepink
that lingers shadowy utterly unutterably
there and not there only in certain uncertain light
moving like water like mist like drizzle
there then not there only when draped like this
over my shoulder & down my legs across your lap
lapping like water falling at our feet
This purplepinkgreen is how
I am husbandmotherlover
is how my mouth is utterly certain of uncertain words
is how my tongue can make words like shadows
shadowy utterly unutterably
there now and now not there
Vithyasamaana aakal meaning
a different kind of people a strange people
people of strangeness unholy & holy
wholly unstrange to ourselves
Gayathiri is a Tamil writer based in London. They’re interested in how language shapes belonging and how we might use it to build freer futures.
Gayathiri is a recipient of the Poetry Archive Prize and the Disabled Poets Prize. Their play 'Period Parrrty' is a trans Tamil rom-com and opened at Soho Theatre (London) in 2025. Their debut novel-in-verse, 'Bad Queer', is out with Faber.
8 Oct 2026 - 13 Feb 2027
Examining how South Asian queer narratives have been obscured, omitted and reshaped by colonial legacies.
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Banner image: Charan Singh, Naagrani and Roopa, 2026. Commissioned by Autograph, London.
About the author: Courtesy Gayathiri Kamalakanthan.
Inspired by: Charan Singh, Rasili, 2026. Commissioned by Autograph, London.
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