This Instagram page is a visual library of hand gestures for queer community

Himanshu Kansal’s recent ISL illustrations during Pride Month are to educate people about the LGBTQiA+ terminologies in sign language

Himanshu Kansal waves at us, a big smile in place, from across the screen during our virtual interview. We are waiting for his interpreter to join us; a critical link to communicating with the fine art and multimedia designer based in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh.

Kansal's Instagram illustrations on his handle @isignart have caught our attention for creating a visual library of hand gestures based on the Indian Sign Language (ISL) to denote terms and expressions associated with the queer community. "My passion is to draw, and much of it has to do with what I observe among the deaf community and from the Indian Sign Language," reads his bio.

His recent post in time for Pride month is a quirky guide to LGBTQiA+ terminologies using ISL. Although always interested in the arts, a lack of quality teachers meant that he had to manage with self-learning, and later rely on technology to master art. "That's how my interest developed," he shares. A formal education in the specialisation was out of the question given his disability.

Himanshu Kansal

A fter a basic computers course in Indore was followed by relying on YouTube tutorials. The drawings that he creates using Procreate on an iPad, takes anywhere between one and two hours to make. "If the sign involves movement, it takes two hours a picture. For instance, the word ‘bisexual' shows the sign of a boy and girl; it was complex and took me two hours to make."

Thankfully, Kansal says, his disability hasn't been a hindrance for his multimedia art projects since the institutes he is associated with have a support community that offers help from teachers and interpreters when needed. "They help foster an environment of accessibility. If I face a difficulty, I can always reach out to an interpreter or manage with writing," he says.

The Instagram account dedicated to this subject is three years old and helps Kansal, 30, showcase to the world how the deaf express themselves. He selects words that are critical to the survival of both, the hearing impaired and the queer. Friend/friendship, equality, community, lesbian, transgender, support, all have a colourful illustration dedicated to them. "I try and illustrate general words as well. For example, I have a drawing to denote the ISL symbol for ‘interpreter' and ‘Coronavirus'." He also takes requests from followers on which word to illustrate next.

Unlike his earlier illustrations which used simple hand drawings, illustrations that denote queer terms are personified. He relies on cute, wide-eyed caricatures.
"I like to make the eyes big; it is my style."