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MISSION

SAAG is an argument that South Asians have claimed avant-garde traditions since longer than the word was coined. They experimented wildly in form, function, and craft; some had an enormous impact on European avant-gardism. But South Asia is rarely the locus of those histories. (See: “Picasso manqué syndrome”)

How do we carve out this space in the contemporary media landscape, where traditional media is shuttering & literary magazines, art exhibits & academic journals exist as silos (especially without mass generational wealth)? SAAG has been crowd-funded since its inception. From Issue 2 onward, SAAG will use a member model to remain sustainable and compensate both our immensely hard-working staff and contributors.

 

Subscribe below to get the chance to become a member of SAAG early, and get early access to our online store (under construction), discounts to a dizzying variety of new merch, including subscription boxes for books, zines, board games, and art, our first print issue, access to events in cities across the globe, our archives, paywalls, and active collaboration with the editorial team. Stay tuned for more.

 

We have a lot of exciting new places to go, grassroots organizations to partner with, and stories to tell. We’d love for you to join us in interrogating and shaping the South Asian Avant-Garde Vol. 2. 

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DESIGN

The design system for Volume 2 of SAAG is wildly different to that of Volume 1, for many reasons. Read more on the process and conceptual thinking underlying the changes in the design system here.  

Display face, Issue 1: TT Ricks by TypeType Foundry

Primary sans typeface: Social by Dinamo type foundry.

Serif body text: Erode by Indian Type Foundry (ITF).

Our colophon (representing the collective above) is inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's painting Head Study.

COLLECTIVE

We are an unwieldy, globe-spanning collective (see: masthead) of forty-six South Asian writers, editors, academics, organizers, translators, playwrights, journalists, visual artists and designers. We share a deep political commitment to radical art that says something new about power and inequality.

We exist because we don’t see any models for a truly activist-literary space, and that is what we wish to create.

CHANGES

As crises deepen both in and around South Asia, we extend our mission to encompass other parts of the world. Part of our mission is to forge new communities and build upon long-running traditions of solidarity across oceans, languages, and nations. Our column centering solidarity—what we call “The Vertical”—is the first in our effort to include essential stories from around the world, featuring voices that offer a deeper introduction to key issues impacting regions not limited to South Asia.

Our reorganized categories allow for various forms of work to be presented in any category. The Vertical will publish timely op-eds and dispatches in any format, be it prose, comic, or photo-essay. Read the work from Issue 1 now.

SOUTH ASIAN AVANT-GARDE IS A LITERARY MAGAZINE FOR GLOBAL SOUTH ASIAN SOLIDARITIES & ACTIVIST APPROACHES TO REPRESENTATION.

RECENT

BROOKLYN, US
12 May 2023
Launch Event at Soapbox Gallery with album release of Apertures by Rajna Swaminathan, featuring Utsav Lal & Ganavya (Vagabonds Trio)
NEW HAVEN, US
23 April 2023
Film Screening: JOYLAND (2023) dir. Saim Sadiq. Sponsored by the Asian-American Cultural Center, Yale Women's Center, and the Office of LGBTQ Resources.
NEW YORK, US
22 April 2023
In collaboration with SALAM for Rice & Resistance: Tamil Labor on the Plantation
NEW YORK, US
22 October 2022
In collaboration with SALAM for Rice & Resistance: Climate Imperialism in Pakistan
LAHORE, PAKISTAN
31 December 2022
Launch Event at Kitab Ghar Literary Festival: The Argument for an Internationalist Perspective of Disaster
VIRTUAL
In Grief, In Solidarity: Panels, Films, Live Performances + more 

UPCOMING

COLOMBO
DELHI
LONDON
Launch Events for SAAG Vol. 2 Issue 1
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