Rouge & Marigold Expo Opens in Hyderabad
The exhibition is open to the public through the day, with the evening programme ticketed separately.
Hyderabad: Rouge & Marigold, an experiential exhibition on queer histories across France and India, opened at EXT by Moonshine, Filmnagar, on Saturday. Archival material, live performances and an evening cabaret programme formed major parts of the day‑long public event, which ran from 12 noon to 7 pm, followed by a ticketed Rainbow Nights from 8 pm.
The exhibition is open to the public through the day, with the evening programme ticketed separately.
The exhibition comes at a time when the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026 has just been passed in Parliament, amid protests and concern within sections of the LGBTQIA+ community over provisions related to identity and certification.
“When I speak of innovation, we mean something far beyond technology and industry, it is about giving voice to those who are often unheard. Rouge & Marigold, as part of our AFH cultural series, reflects this commitment by shining a light on minority communities,” said Maud Miquau, director, Alliance Francaise Hyderabad, as the exhibition opened under the France–India Year of Innovation.
Presented by Alliance Francaise Hyderabad and Dark Vibe Society, the programme moves through archival works spanning eight centuries, connecting histories from France and India. Material ranges from Mughal‑era references to cabaret culture in Montmartre, and from temple sculpture to contemporary street practices in Kolkata and Paris. Organisers said the exhibition traces histories of love, identity and resistance across both geographies.
Curators Vaibhav Kumar Modi, Lotte Carolina Damm and Daniya Ishankulova structured the exhibition across multiple floors. Visitors walk through reconstructed documents, testimony‑based installations and a red thread linking twenty archival images across time.
Explaining the curatorial intent, Vaibhav Kumar Modi said: “Rouge & Marigold is, at its heart, a dialogue between communities, between spaces, between cities and the larger worlds they belong to. What draws me to this kind of work is the conviction that stories, silent or otherwise, must be seen, heard, and understood. Not because the past is something to be escaped, but because we do not have to repeat it. That is only possible if we choose to understand it first.”
The exhibition builds on previous work by Alliance Française Hyderabad, which focused on neurodivergent children and women in isolation in Himachal Pradesh. Organisers said the current edition turns to LGBTQ communities through an expressive programme combining archival research with performance.
