Multimedia-artist working with video, photography and installation, based in Rotterdam.
FIRST, WE MUST DESTROY
Essay (2024)
Supplementary essay for ‘The future is under construction’ video-installation, created in collaboration with Museum Hilversum and Stichting Gooi en Vecht Inclusief. Supported by Mondriaan Fund and Hilversum Mediastad.
FIRST, WE MUST DESTROY
One evening this summer, when I walked through the city center holding hands with my partner, a drunk man called after us. When we didn’t respond, he yelled, sitting on a bench behind us, ‘hey, what are your pronouns!’ It hurt, feeling a weapon of representation and self-identification being used by someone to categorize me, single me out and make me feel unsafe. As a queer, gender non-conforming person, I’ve grown accustomed to looks, sometimes comments, or remarks pointing out that I’m different. This is something many people that reject heteronormativity and gender binaries experience daily. But this summer, after I’d experienced new levels of intimidation and discrimination for the umpteenth time, I heard myself repeatedly wish for a world where my sheer existence wouldn’t generate unwanted attention, where I was never given a second glance, get called out, spit on, intimidated or physically threatened for how I look and whose hand I hold. But where would I find such a place, and what would that look like?
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