Shaneel Shavneel Lal (They/Them) is iTaukei and Indian and identifies as vakasalewalewa and hijra. Shaneel is the founder of the Conversion Therapy Action Group, an executive board member of Rainbow Youth and the Auckland Pride Festival and is a trustee of Adhikaar Aotearoa. Lal is also a model, a political commentator on queer and indigenous rights issues, a law and psychology student at the University of Auckland and a Young Justice Leader for New York University Center on International Cooperation.
Here, Shaneel discusses Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda and shares their insight. This exhibition brings together 12 prominent artists from across the Pacific whose works set a feminist agenda by bringing to the fore the most pressing issues of our times: climate change and resilience, tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty), activism and social justice.