Who is nabigal nayagam

Usually, he illustrates digitally, but he also has a secret love of inks, color pencil, and acrylic paints. His favorite thing about art is experimenting with color and what the right colors can do to make a piece magical. His hobbies include doll collecting, reading, learning about South Asian mythology and folklore. Nabi H. Ali is represented by James Burns — to work with Nabi please email James. In My Mosque M. Yuksel, illus. Ages 4—8.

The Schneider Family Book Award The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. His webcomic series Puu 'flower' in Tamil, for the uninitiated , is a magical mix of intersections. Two Muslim men, who are Tamil, homosexual, and whose lives run parallel to the lives of an inter-faith lesbian couple and a Dalit transwoman, whose admirer is an unwitting heterosexual Muslim man.

Nabi's works are a delicate ensemble of bold messages, at a time and age, where being queer and being Muslim, comes with consequences, if not with its rewards. What with the current political atmospheres of the world and the nation, speaking to Nabi was a necessity, more than just mere curiosity.

So, as an obvious succession to what happens when the two emotions get together, we got talking! But in this one case I am happy to say, curiosity killed the cat on an extremely satisfied note. Nabigal-Nayagam Haider Ali - Not too many people get the context behind your name. Could you tell us more about your name and your twitter identity? My twitter identity is really no different from how I am in real life, except for when I'm back home during holidays with my parents.

So even if you asked for Nabigal-Nayagam Haider Ali in the real world, he's the exact same as he is online - but maybe a little less talkative; I'm very, very quiet in person, oddly. As for my journey with religion, I spent a good chunk of my life as a Hindu, but when I turned 15 I secretly started gravitating towards Islam.

Shi'a Islam in specific came to me as I was slowly getting more and more into leftist politics, as revolution and opposing tyrannical, power-hungry rulers is at the center of Shi'ism. Another important part is that there are Shi'a scholars who give space and acceptance for transgender peoples - especially Ayatollah Khomeini and his fatwa in support of transwoman Maryam Khatoon Molkara. Who are you, and what do you currently do? And of course, what has been your experience growing up as a Tamilian, and an individual who took the step to convert to Islam?

Currently I'm studying animation, but I know I'll probably end up in comics or illustration in terms of work after I graduate; I don't have a problem with that at all though, since it's already what I do now.

On the side, I do a lot of freelance illustration and comics work, and I'm trying to get a few things out there outside of the internet. Being Tamilian is something I'm very happy and proud of; Tamil has the potential to unite every Tamilian regardless of caste, religion, creed, gender, sexuality etc.

In that way, it extends beyond a mere linguistic tradition. For me, holding onto the Tamil language has been of an utmost importance; I taught myself to read the script when I was 8 years old and studying 3rd grade here in the states. When I converted to Islam, I had to keep it a secret; the only exception was when my dad found me praying namaz once and my mom beat me horribly, but I somehow managed to convince them that I was merely curious and wouldn't repeat it again.

It's tough living a double life, especially since I have to pray five times a day and I wear niqab outside of my parents' house. It's even worse that Americans are also very intolerant when it comes to Islam, especially towards a very visible Muslim; I've had people yell at me to get off of the bus and people scream at me while driving by, as well as giving me death threats online.

On the other hand, I experience a lot of hatred and intolerance from Muslims who cannot swallow that I'm transgender, and I've had whole friendships destroyed because of that. Everything kind of sucks, but I am sure that things will be better in the future.

What got you working on Puu? Where did you get the courage to work on a web-comic series like this? I wanted something lighthearted and funny at the start and I didn't have huge plans for it. But as it started to pick up a lot of traction, I found myself working on it much more seriously. A lot of LGBT South Asians also got back to me saying that my work has inspired them to embrace their identities a little more freely.

At that point, Puu stopped being a casual, cute comic for me, and I began to put in a lot of weight into what I was creating. Another part of Puu is a lot more simple. I really enjoy my characters, Saboor and Jameel, and I really just wanted them to kiss! And now they do, and they're adorable!

It's a little childish, but I love seeing them in love; I'm a sucker for romance. At first go, it seems like Puu works on leaving a visual mark on its readers - the text adds to the art, but the art in itself is powerful enough to stand strong on its own. What goes into the stark ideation of your work in Puu , and what impact are you hoping it has been creating? The challenge with Puu is that each chapter is only four pages long, and the panels and text have to be large enough to glean from a mobile screen.

As a result, I had to devise a style that would make the message I was communicated short and sweet.