Young Creatives To Watch: Akansha, The Multidisciplinary Artist Championing Representation

Akansha’s first foray into the arts was through movement, ignited through hip-hop dance as a co-curricular activity in school. “That made me realise I wanted to do arts management at LaSalle. Ever since, I’ve been so fascinated with all types of art and I just wanted to do everything.” And dabble they did. The 24-year-old has been keeping busy, engaging in dance, spoken word, DJ-ing, and organising arts events – notably, dink collective, an open mic for all artists in a mixture of mediums.

But across mediums, it’s clear that they have a strong voice that carries through all their works. As a queer, non-binary artist of a minority race in Singapore, the process of art serves as a means to decolonise and break from the norm. “We’ve just been told how to be from a young age, and with people telling you this is the way things should be, it’s empowering yourself by taking back that control in the work that you do. So I like to pick up so many types of mediums because I want to express things in my way, express it myself and to empower myself.”

Would you say your creative process is an unlearning process? Yeah, unlearning and learning, in so many ways. With each medium, you learn so many new things, unlearn so many things, and you’re just like, “oh! I didn’t think of it that way” – and your mind is just fascinated.

Is there a power in art as a tool for change? I definitely think art is a tool for change. I feel like my art is political, at least for me, simply because I feel that there’re so many lived experiences I face, as a minority, or, whether in terms of gender, class or race. When I did spoken word, all my words would be political, I generally gravitate towards something that carries a message. Activism is important and art is one important way we can reach out to people, so I try to do my best with whatever capabilities I have. I mean, we all still have so much to do.

Plus, I think it’s important for people to say, “Oh, I can do that!” or “This person is doing that, so I can also do that”, you know? Representation is important.

Tell us more about your lived experience as a brown, non-binary artist in Singapore. I feel like there are so many things to be said. I think one part of it is, is it tokenistic or not? Diversity and inclusivity has become a trend now. It’s cool that minorities are being featured, but is it just to tick off a box, for diversity points? In the past, they would pick me for being a non-binary person, but they didn’t use the correct pronouns and neither did they ask. It’s just ironic, because they pick me for a queer, non-binary subject, but they don’t even respect it. I know it’s a bit complicated, because it’s not something we often talk about. But it’s always better to ask, or check. If you did your homework, you’re correcting yourself, asking people for their right pronouns, then it’s okay, and it’s okay if they make mistakes along the way.

You’re quite involved in the creative scene in Singapore. Any comments or hopes for what it could be? I think what all of the other personalities do is really cool, that they are carving out their own spaces. I just hope there is more space for us to do so, and more acceptance of an alternative. We just have to uplift each other, and not be like, “Oh, this person is doing this…”

I think it’s slowly happening. The younger generation – there are these kids who are 18, and they’re doing their own thing, in their own unique way. And I feel that there is a shift where we are slowly building a culture where we’re becoming more accepting of the alternative. Talking to my peers who are a bit older, they tell me about how people our age are doing things that they didn’t do, and now I see the shift in where 18-year-olds now are doing things that we didn’t do. And it’s just cool to see that, and I hope it does continue in that way. I think it always will.

How would you like to be remembered? My goal is to be a renaissance man, but the brown non-binary equivalent of that (laughs). And for people to feel like they can take away something from talking to me or seeing me art, or perceiving me in any way.

Find Akansha at @kanshhhhh on Instagram