Bengaluru artiste Avril Unger to perform at Balance Festival 2024 as Chutney Mary

Avril Stormy Unger as Chutney Mary
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Ever since its inception in 2018, the Balance Club / Culture Festival in Leipzig has been the spring board for artistes from all over the world to showcase “marginalised, queer and feminist voices in club culture.” This year, two artistes from India — Bengaluru’s Avril Unger and Delhi’s Kinari — performed at the Balance Festival that took place between November 1 and 3.

At Balance, Avril performed as Chutney Mary, her drag persona. “I go with Avril when exhibiting at galleries and performance art spaces; Chutney Mary is my drag personality that came out after I realized I was queer,” says the artiste, adding, “As Chutney Mary, I deejay, do drag, dance, sing, rap and perform stand up, as a completely different entity that encompasses all the other things that I’m not able to do under the umbrella of serious art.”

Avril admits that while her work is heavy with a humorous bent, as Chutney Mary she is blatant about having a blast — almost as an antithesis of her self.

“Chutney Mary is like the sexy Indian aunty who DJs, raps, dances, and does everything in a sari and jewelry; she’s not only a visual mix-and-match, but also a representation that I wanted to see growing up. I didn’t get to see it, which took me a long time to realise my own queerness.”

“In queer spaces, there are drag queens and drag kings, but no cis woman out there owning her sexuality and the stage. That is who Chutney Mary is.”

Avril Stormy Unger as Chutney Mary
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

At the three-day festival in Leipzig, which included discourses, panels, workshops and performances, Avril participated in three different areas. “I hosted a workshop on Building Community as an Act of Resistance; using a game I invented called Chutney Mary’s Queer Charades.”

The game, which involves a customised deck of 72 cards, is used as a tool to talk about difficult things, “in a playful, joyful way”. “I feel play is a huge part of community building and sustaining, as well as while working in spaces where which are completely against you,” she says.

Avril says her drag personality evolved over the past three years when she was building community spaces in Goa. “I was running a queer bar in Goa for a bit, and during that time, I started queer charade nights. The game gradually developed into Chutney Mary’s Queer Charades.”

Chutney Mary’s Queer Charades
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

At Balance, Avril was also part of a panel discussion with a few other artistes and the organisers, talking about club culture and its politics. “Thirdly, I will be playing a DJ set at Balance club night. Though the festival is on for three days. I will be Berlin for a month as I have other shows and performances lined up.”

Talking about Kinari, Avril says, “She is a trans rapper based out of Delhi and is the only other artiste from India at this festival. I’m a huge fan of her work and have been following her for a while now, so I’m super excited to be playing at the same festival as her.”

Both Kinari and Avril were spotted by Abilaschan Balamuraley, a curator from Balance who had visited India in 2023, through the Goethe Institut Mumbai. “They had come to India as part of a project looking at queer spaces in India and organising performances with artistes,” she says, adding that the Goethe Institut in Mumbai and Bengaluru were instrumental in both Kinari and her becoming a part of the Balance Festival this year.