Poornima Sukumar

Poornima Sukumar is a muralist, artist, and illustrator who uses wall painting as a mode of community engagement. For the past few years she has been using her public art projects to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities, engaging at-risk youth, sex workers, and others in peacemaking and creating awareness around social issues. She feels privileged to have worked on a variety of social causes and human welfare issues alongside government bodies, schools, restaurants, artist residencies, corporations, and more. Poornima is the founder and director of Aravani Art Project, a group of transgender artists and allies based in Bangalore, India. The Project’s mission is to foster creative connections between members of the transgender community and other communities globally, with the aim of reducing the discrimination, stigma, and systemic inequality faced by transgender people in many parts of the world. A central goal of the Project's artistic interventions in public spaces is to increase visibility, social participation, and transparency around inclusivity, and to provide a platform to those who might otherwise be afraid to speak out and express their true identities and beliefs.

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