Sajdeep Soomal

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By: Sajdeep Soomal

Sajdeep Soomal in interview with Elspeth Brown and Vinh nguyen at the CLGA (Photo: C. Barreto, 2018)

Sajdeep Soomal in interview with Elspeth Brown and Vinh nguyen at the CLGA (Photo: C. Barreto, 2018)

Sajdeep Soomal (Saj) is a 23-year-old Punjaban who grew up in Cambridge, Ontario and left for Montreal after graduating high school. In two interviews, we hear from Saj at two junctures in their coming-of-age story. In the first interview, working through a large selection of family photographs that Saj assembled for mural in his childhood home, we learn about his extended family’s migration journey and diasporic struggles. In the second interview, we take a look at a selection of recent born-digital photographs and childhood videos of Saj. Weaving through their identifications, flirtations and commitments to gayness, queerness, transness, and khusraness at different points, Saj talks about the ongoing challenges of finding home in their injured body. Saj repeatedly returns to the importance of family in their life, emphasizing how close they are to their younger sister.

Sajdeep Soomal at SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre). Digital image. Photographed by Sajdeep soomal. Mar 15, 2017. Toronto, Ontario. gift of Sajdeep Soomal. Courtesy of The Family Camera Network and the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.

Sajdeep Soomal at SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre). Digital image. Photographed by Sajdeep soomal. Mar 15, 2017. Toronto, Ontario. gift of Sajdeep Soomal. Courtesy of The Family Camera Network and the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.

Sajdeep's photos and interview can be accessed in The Family Camera Network public archive at The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives (formerly the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives).