Using art, storytelling, and design research to explore marginalised identities and imagine inclusive futures
Ekantor is a recurring design-based research initiative by OGNIE Foundation Bangladesh and Meye Network.
The word Ekantor means alternate yet equal. It also evokes the idea of a shared soul beyond difference. The project investigates conflicts embedded within social systems and explores more inclusive futures through participatory research, dialogue, and artistic expression.
Ekantor asks
How do we create visibility, dignity, and belonging for people whose lives are often erased from public narratives?
Ekantor 2016
Reimagining Relationships Between Mothers and Daughters
Many Bangladeshi women inherit unspoken expectations, sacrifices, and traumas across generations.
Conversations about motherhood, domestic violence, divorce, agency, and womanhood often remain fragmented within families. Mothers and daughters frequently share experiences without having the language or space to discuss them openly.
Approach
Ekantor 2016 explored the intergenerational experiences of women through
A week-long photographic exhibition
Documentation of 24 mother-daughter journeys
Interactive dialogues on domestic violence
Interactive dialogues on divorce
Storytelling through letters
Cultural performances by participants
The exhibition invited participants to revisit their relationships with their mothers, not as static family roles, but as evolving human stories shaped by history, sacrifice, aspiration, and change.
Outcome
The project created a public space for conversations rarely visible in mainstream discourse and demonstrated how personal narratives can become collective reflection. It also established the methodological foundation for future Ekantor editions.
Ekantor ’22
Gender Diversity: Conflict and Celebration of Identity
একান্তর ‘২২ | লিঙ্গবৈচিত্র্যের উদযাপন (Ekantor ’22: A Celebration of Gender Diversity)
Bangladesh operates within a highly gender-segregated social structure shaped by rigid expectations around masculinity, femininity, sexuality, and public behaviour. Diverse gender identities often remain invisible due to social stigma, discrimination, legal barriers, and safety concerns.
Visibility can be empowering.
Visibility can also be dangerous.
The challenge was to create a process that honoured lived experience while protecting participants from harm.
Human Insight
We believe that stories are evidence of existence.
When people’s identities are excluded from dominant narratives, their experiences become difficult to recognise, understand, or advocate for. Creating space for storytelling becomes an act of both documentation and imagination.
Approach
Ekantor ’22 was designed as a three-month participatory design research project that followed the principles of Design Thinking:
- Empathy
- Define
- Ideate
- Prototype
- Test
The process unfolded through four stages:
Stories
Researchers, artists, and community partners worked with individuals from gender-diverse communities to gather stories, memories, artefacts, emotions, and lived experiences.
Visualisation
Participants collaborated with artists and designers to transform these stories into artistic expressions that communicated experience while protecting anonymity.
Expression
The resulting work was curated into a public exhibition at Kala Kendra in Dhaka from 2–12 December 2022, accompanied by private dialogues, performances, and community conversations. The exhibition was extended twice due to audience response.
Publication
Research findings, documentation, visual artefacts, and reflections were preserved as resources for future advocacy and movement building.
What We Created
Research
Stories collected from 11 individuals with diverse gender and sexual identities.
Artworks
23 original artistic pieces produced
20 photographic works
2 text-based illustrations
1 digital artwork
Exhibition
Public exhibition hosted for 11 days at Kala Kendra, Dhaka.
Community Dialogues
Three curated discussions explored:
- Queer ecology and artivism
- Histories of LGBTQI+ movements in Bangladesh
- Artistic and social implications of gender diversity research
Impact
Ekantor ’22 operated simultaneously as research, art, advocacy, and movement infrastructure.
What the project did:
Created safer spaces for cross-community dialogue
Built new alliances between feminist and LGBTQI+ groups
Generated visual evidence for future advocacy
Increased public exposure to diverse gender identities
Encouraged constructive public conversations around gender, sexuality, and belonging
Demonstrated unexpectedly high levels of engagement from audiences across demographic backgrounds, including visitors who identified as socially conservative.
Participants described the project as a rare neutral space where communities could meet, debate, learn, and imagine futures together. Community partners later identified the project as a trusted ally space beyond their own organisational boundaries.
Reflection
Ekantor taught me that inclusion cannot be designed solely through policy.
People need opportunities to encounter difference through curiosity rather than confrontation.
Art creates that opening.
Research creates understanding.
Dialogue creates connection.
When combined, they allow communities to imagine futures that may not yet exist.
Ekantor continues to inform my work at the intersection of feminist systems thinking, strategic foresight, participatory design, and social innovation.
Methods & Approaches
Design Research · Human-Centred Design · Strategic Foresight · Participatory Storytelling · Exhibition Design · Community Engagement · Narrative Design · Feminist Organising · Movement Building · Arts-Based Research · Systems Thinking