Priyam Collective is a powerful platform of diverse, yet interconnected voices. The collective is one of the pioneers in the Tamil-speaking regions of the country. Priyam in Tamil has multiple meanings, such as affection, love, fondness, and friendship. The equivalent of Priyam in many other South Asian languages, including Sinhala, holds similar meanings. Priyam comes as the closest namesake of a dear queer feminist comrade, Priya Thangarajah. Her legacy, along with many other comrades’ , will continue to guide and strengthen us.

Priyam Collective was founded by three friends in 2018 who come from different socio-cultural and sexual backgrounds and locations in Sri Lanka. Our experiences with marginalisation, oppression, discrimination and violence, the intersections of these experiences, combined with a critical reflection of our privileged positions in society, and how we made sense of this all brought us together, repeatedly. Such meaning-making processes of our stories helped us to connect and collaborate with many others from various communities. Together, we envisage, explore, and act towards the changes we seek.

Our goal

Priyam Collective aims to voice and explore intersectional experiences of marginalised sections of our society that help question dominant norms and practices and broaden understandings of sex, gender, sexuality, class, caste, disability, ethnicity, language, religion and other forms of marginalisation in Sri Lanka.

Our approaches

Priyam Collective focuses on queer and feminist approaches to expand our understandings of the body, bodily integrities, sexuality, and the question of sex and gender. While doing this, we nurture a critical perspective to question the limitations and privileges, including our own. We believe that these processes help build and strengthen a strong collective with a profound sense of community.