Graphic Intimacies: qeer Form Urban Alienation and the Lesbian Gaze in Amruta Patil’s Kari 12 6

Abstract

Amruta Patil’s Kari (2008) is a historical record in Indian graphic fiction as it opened a new dimension in the representation of a lesbian protagonist. Through this genre, Amrutha Patil has subtly explored fragmented identity and the fineness of the graphic novel. These qualities include its interplay of image and text, its non-linear sequencing, and its symbolic visual metaphors, coherently creating a distinctly queer experience of urban alienation. The novel records the journey of its eponymous heroine (Kari) and her situation post-suicide pact with her lover, Ruth. This has left their unnamed “Smog City.” Kari’s navigation of this heteronormative metropolis is mirrored in the book’s aesthetic: a muted, claustrophobic palette of greys and sepias, punctuated by moments of surreal, symbolic colour. This portrayal has revealed the central themes of the city: as a character of suffocating conformity, the queer body as a centre of both decay and resilience and finally as the graphic form itself in a "queer medium". The article consequently places Kari within the post-millennial incline of Indian graphic novels and its posterity relevance in establishing a visual language for queer female desire.