Born in Chattogram, queer rights activist ‘Living large in little boxes’ started working for the oldest and the largest self-identified LGBT network since 2007. He has been involved with advocacy, networking, and community mobilization projects for many years.

‘Living large in little boxes’ take a deep interest in the sexuality politics, intersectionality of causes and social justice. At the Universal Periodic Review UPR 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland, he took part as a civil society representative where the government of Bangladesh recognized the existence of the LGBT community in Bangladesh.

Together with the Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD) The Netherlands, he has conducted qualitative fact-finding research in 2013 which is titled ‘The Invisible Minority: The Situation of LGBT Community in Bangladesh’. In 2015 he envisioned and implemented ‘Project Dhee’ as a project supervisor, which produced a comic strip featuring a lesbian character Dhee, the first of its kind in South Asia. 

He has curated several queer art projects to embrace diversity through interdisciplinary art in Bangladesh. His photography was awarded in RIGHT TO LOVE category by Gaysi Family India back in 2012. Recently he took part in Uronto Art Exchange Program and some of his group art exhibitions are Ghartera Edition 0: Junkyard (2019), InFlux Print Show (2018), Artivist December (2018), Longitude Latitude 4 ‘Identity and Belonging’ 2012   

His films were screened in The &Proud LGBT Film Festival, Yangon (2014), Neukölln Short Film Walk, Germany (2012), 6th International Festival of Docufilm on Liberation and Human Rights, Bangladesh, (2012) and Salzburg Global LGBT Seminar (2017). He got nominated as an inspiring individual for promoting freedom and equality by fiveFilms4freedom in 2016 Global List. 

In 2016, he also finished his fellowship at the Human Rights Watch, New York in their LGBT division and for his contribution to the community, he has been awarded for International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) 2017 by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. He is an alumni of Coalition of Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR) since 2017 and an Acumen fellow now in Bangladesh. This year in 2020 he is going to attend the HRC Global Innovative Advocacy Summit for his approach to preserve the oral history of the community.

‘Living large in little boxes’ is a regular writer on diversity and inclusion for several national and regional platforms. He holds a master’s in social work and in addition to queer rights activism, he works as a training associate in an emotional support helpline. In his spare time, he enjoys drawing, hiking, and photography.

Works by this contributor:

• Rethink well-being
• One year after the murders of Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy
• Dissection
• Discussing LGBTQ rights in Bangladesh
• Love that doesn’t count
• Survival in Shrinking Space
• সমকামিতা ও আমাদের ভঙ্গুর সহনশীলতা