KUJA

This is a platform aiming to explore the confluence of the arts, politics and science. 
Our collective works on a magazine and organises events, such as exhibitions and symposiums. The magazine aims to showcase analysis, expression and dialogue between both subjects and people. We hope to invite dialectical thought and discussion by publishing work that is from both the academic and artistic worlds. By removing parameters between subjects, we want to encourage work of any style that prompts us to deepen our thought and increase the breadth of our education.

COLLECTIVE MEMBERS

vankshita mishra (she/her): filmmaker, writer and curator based in L.A. and London

astor gilliland (they/them): anthropologist, writer, clothes-maker based in London and Cambridge.

karan jain (he/him): economist based in Chicago, London and Delhi.

long you (he/him): writer and filmmaker based in L.A.

Kuja (/'kʊdʒə/) is a word that has its roots in Sanskrit and then spread into the Indo-Iranian languages, including Pali, Marathi, Urdu, Farsi, and exists as a loan word in languages such as Malayalam and Swahili. It means born of the earth. Kuja traversed the subcontinent and beyond, becoming ingrained in the fabric of our ancestors. It exists as a word for trees, for gods, for science. It was passed into Farsi to mean the place where one is; into Marathi to mean the horizon; into Malayalam and Punjabi to mean a container made of earth. We love the plethora of meanings wrapped into this word that all reflect the physical world.