SAADA Spotlight

"Finding Love" Tote Bag

$30.00
Tax included.
Size Guide

Ro Maharjan’s artwork for “Finding Love” was inspired by Mala Nagarajan and Vega Subramaniam’s celebration of queer love and chosen family, as shared in the “Finding Love, Forming Family” essay in Our Stories.

What's the story?

Mala and Vega were raised in Hindu families who emigrated from South India to the United States in the 1960s. In June 2002, they got married in a lesbian Hindu wedding. Despite the fact that Vega is atheist and Mala agnostic, they chose a Hindu ceremony in order to reclaim their cultural heritage… “With 155 friends and family as witnesses, we experienced something very unexpected: a heightened level of trust and commitment.” -pp. 390, 393-394 of Our Stories

Read the rest of their story in the essay “Finding Love, Forming Family” in Our Stories.

What's it made of?

• 100% certified organic cotton 3/1 twill
• Fabric weight: 8 oz/yd² (272 g/m²)
• Dimensions: 16″ × 14 ½″ × 5″ (40.6 cm × 35.6 cm × 12.7 cm)
• Weight limit: 30 lbs (13.6 kg)
• 1″ (2.5 cm) wide dual straps, 24.5″ (62.2 cm) length
• Open main compartment

RO MAHARJAN X SAADA

Finding Love

"Our chosen families–our community of friends, lovers, and significant others–are our lifelines. Queer South Asian spaces–magazines like ‘Trikone,’ the book ‘A Lotus of Another Color,’ the internet community, and newsletters–gave us room to come up for air, breathe, and build our fortitude and community. In other words: to fight and live and love like family.” - Vega Subramaniam and Mala Nagarajan

Ro Maharjan’s artwork for "Finding Love" was inspired by the story of Mala Nagarajan and Vega Subramaniam’s celebration of queer love and chosen family. 

Through their design, Ro represented the support of Mala and Vega’s chosen family, highlighting the performance of a kathak dance of sapphic lovers coming together which was choreographed by their friends. Ro hopes that their design empowers the possibility of a queer future that is celebrated and embraced by family and community.

About the Artwork