Coming Out

*** Sexually explicit content ***

This experimental short film explores homophobia within the British Indian community from a personal and autobiographical perspective. The artist merges an audio recording of when he "came out" to his parents with a self-recorded sexually explicit video clip. Many parallels can be drawn between these two very different yet connected moments. The artist challenges audiences with the rawness of the film footage, but also surprises them with his honest, candid, personal and humorous approach.

  • Vijay Patel
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    1 minute 23 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 3, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    200 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English, Gujarati
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Wotever World: Cine Erotica (plus Q&A)
    London
    January 28, 2016
    United Kingdom Premiere
  • 11th XPOSED International Queer Film Festival
    Berlin
    May 20, 2016
    Germany Premiere
  • Spectrum Queer Media
    Oakland
    United States
    North American Premiere
  • Toronto Queer Film Festival (plus Q&A)
    Toronto
    Canada
    June 22, 2016
    North America Premiere
  • In/Out Film & Video Festival
    Philadelphia
    United States
    July 22, 2016
    Best Film Semi-Finalist
  • Wotever DIY Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    September 3, 2016
  • 13th Queer City Cinema Film Festival
    Regina
    Canada
    September 20, 2016
  • 31st Mix Copenhagen
    Copenhagen
    Denmark
    September 30, 2016
  • Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    November 19, 2016
Director Biography - Vijay Patel

SOLO & TWO MAN EXHIBITIONS
2011 ‘Bianco su Bianco: Oltre Malevich’ Museum of Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Milano, Italy
2011 Ralph Lauren Art Stars with Samara Couri. Block 60, Rimini, Italy
2006 ‘Drawings and Paintings’ New York Studio School, USA

SELECTED RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015 ‘Summer Exhibition’ Royal Academy of Arts, London
2015 ‘100 Painting Summer Show’ Patrick Harvist Gallery, London
2014 ‘Christmas Charity Fair’ Queens Elm Gallery, London
2014 ‘Light’ Siena Art Institute, Italy
2014 ‘The Art Show’ The Arts Club, Mayfair, London
2013 ‘Sacred’ Novas Contemporary Urban Centre, London
2013 ‘Salon Art Fair 2013’ Salon Contemporary, London

SELECTED PERFORMANCES & FILM SCREENINGS
2016 ‘Coming Out’ screened at Queer Experiments: Cine Erotica, Picturehouse, London
2010 - 2011 ‘Tate Modern Live: Michael Clark Company’ Tate Modern, London

SELECTED COMMISSIONS
2015 Design the front cover for the first ‘Journal of Neuroesthetics’
2011 Light installation for Channel 4 arts series ‘The Science of Art’
2011 Ralph Lauren Art Star’s 2011 competition winner

ARTIST’S TALKS
2016 Q&A discussion at ‘Queer Experiments: Cine Erotica’ Hackney Picturehouse, London
2010 Q&A discussion after Alex Gabbay’s ‘Just Trial and Error’ film screening at the Barbican. Participants included Antony Gormley, Prof Brian Butterworth, Prof Beau Lotto and Twain Luu.

EDUCATION/ TRAINING
2003 – 2007 The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. BA Fine Art, awarded the Grocers’ Company Queens Golden Jubilee Scholarship. With study exchange at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture.
2006 Global Arts Village, New Delhi, India. Student Full Fellowship

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

My current practice highlights and celebrates the diversity of queer gender sexual identities and their place in the British Indian imagination. The body of work is entitled “હું કોણ છું?” and which translates as “Who am I?” from Gujarati to English. This is in response to the words “Tu gay laage che” (“You look gay”) which my father used to say to me as a child when I was growing up. In my experience, a great deal of transphobic and homophobic discrimination towards Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) individuals actually stems from others within BAME communities. Members of the wider LGBTQI community share many issues, however these challenges can be felt more acutely by those who identify as Queer (LGBT)/ Trans/ Intersex People of Colour (QTIPoC). For example, QTIPoC individuals tend to be at higher risk of being victims of hate crimes. Unfortunately statistics from the Home Office do not make available the possibility to breakdown subset hate crimes by categories of gender, age, ethnicity etc. of perpetrator and/ or victim. However, In the US, in 2014, 91% of LGBT transgender female murder victims were transgender women of colour. This acute experience is caused from a range of different reasons, whether it’s due to; cultural traditions, religious intolerance, strict gender roles, the migrant experience or historical attitudes (e.g. from colonial powers). These factors can contribute to a real disconnect between specific communities and wider UK society. My work explores these issues across many visual arts media, including; painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, film and installations.