Varun Narain is a queer puppeteer who blurs the boundaries between art and academics. They performs contemporary puppet shows inspired by nature, mythology and interconnectedness. They designs and fabricates their own puppets, as well as researches and scripts their performances. They also conducts workshops on puppet fabrication and manipulation using recycled materials and imagination. They has used their art to raise awareness around issues of gender and sexuality. Between 1994-2002, Varun worked with UNESCO, UNIFEM and a number of NGOs in India and Pakistan on HIV/AIDS and child abuse related issues. 

'AIDS, Whose problem is it?' a filmed puppet show for UNESCO, India

They conitinue to work with graduates from Universities and LGBTQI+ collectives. For the past few years they has been researching and exploring the queer interconnections in nature, particularly between fungal mycelium and plant roots which inspires their work.

TED Talk about their Quirky Puppet Characters

They was the first Indian artist-in-residence in Switzerland facilitated by Pro Helvetia in 2007. 

A documentary by Swissinfo.Ch on their residency in Bern, Switzerland.

They has conducted masterclasses in puppetry techniques with Educators, Performance artists and Social workers from Euorope and  South Asia. They received a New Performance grant from the India Foundation for the Arts in 2009 to develop a puppet and dance adaptation of the classical ballet 'Giselle'. They is presently living and working in Oslo, Norway where they came in 2023 as an artist in residence with Safemuse.

Puppetry has been a childhood passion. Growing up different from my peers and often being bullied, I found my expression and sanity in the world of dolls and the stories I imagined. I would create dolls and puppets from paper and cloth. Growing up in a society filled with prejudice kept me with my dolls and puppets untill I was old enough to decide that that is what I wanted my life and world to be. In 1994 I submitted a Masters thesis in Puppetry and Science Education as a part of my Master of the Arts degree in Mass Communication and Research at The Jamia University, New Delhi in India. I subsequently lectured there as a guest faculty in 'Traditional entertainment' for seventeen years, discovering and developing my professional practice as a contemporary performance artist.