Radical love: Butch Please – Asynja Gray, Campbell X and Valeria Bergmontt
Date: Friday 2 June 2023
Time: 5:30 – 9:00 pm
Place: Konstnärsnämnden, IASPIS
Address: Maria Skolgata 83, 2nd floor
Language: English
Free admission, no reservation needed
5:30 pm Doors open – food and drinks for cost price are served
6:00 pm Event starts
Accesibility: Accessible toilets and elevators are available in the building. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us on info@konstnarsnamnden.se
Asynja Gray is a DJ and cultural producer who has produced hundreds of cultural events with and for queer and feminist communities, among them legendary award-winning dance club SLICK. For the past 20 years, she has worked professionally with theatre production for and with children and youth both nationally and internationally.
Valeria Bergmontt is a drag king, a show butch, a stay at home butch, a sober and a rural butch – a butch of the people. Together with film director Lasse Långström she runs ButchFemmeAB which organizes a bar, creates performances and hosts a TV show.
Campbell X is a writer/director who directed the award-winning queer urban romantic comedy feature film Stud Life. His film Stud Life was voted by the Guardian as one of the top 10 Black British feature films ever made. It was also in Vogue magazine as one of the best films to watch in 2020. Stud Life was also selected by the British Film Institute as one of the top 8 queer films to view while we were all on lockdown. Campbell is one of the writers at the Royal Court for My White Best Friend theatre series. And When All Is Said for Fuel Theatre. He Co-directed Talking About A Revolution with Chinonyerem Odimba for Taita Fhodzi at the Pump House, Lyric Hammersmith and Bristol Old Vic. Campbell’s latest film Still We Thrive about Black joy and resistance, is now screening globally in film festivals. He directed and produced the short film DES!RE about joy and sensuality for men (trans and non-binary) and masculine women ie studs/butches and the documentary VISIBLE about reclaiming QTBIPOC UK history. Campbell is in post-production on his second feature Low Rider which was filmed in the Western Cape region of South Africa starring Emma Mcdonald and Thishiwe Ziqubu. Campbell will join the event through Zoom.
Radical love: care as resistance, is a series of events that explore practices of care in queer and BIPOC artistic and activist communities. The program is curated and organised by producer/curator Samuel Girma and artist Sam Hultin for IASPIS.
Radical love started at IASPIS in the fall of 2022 and included guests such as Hil Malatino, Judith Kiros, Valerie Kyeyune Backström, Mmabatho Thobejane, Zafira Vrba, Alexander Zadruzny/Kollektiv sorg, Steve Sjöquist, Jonelle Twum, Levi Appelton and Lynnée Denise.
Through the program we want to look at what tools we have to answer to the lack of care in today’s neoliberal society where neo-fascism/islamophobia/racism/transphobia is on the rise. We wish to explore how we can practice care, build resilient communities and share space, knowledge and solidarity with each other.
Samuel Girma is a Stockholm based film and art curator, as well as a community organiser, activist and co-founder of the antiracist, intersectional, and feminist platform Black Queers Sweden. Born and raised in Ethiopia, Samuel moved to Sweden at the age of 13, a move that has affected much of his view on Blackness and the experiences that comes with migration. Much of Samuel’s work, art and writings depart from and center the experiences of Black bodies.
Sam Hultin is an artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. Their work is based on their interest in queer history, identity and community and explores connections between personal experiences and political and social structures. Through city walks, sing-alongs and anniversaries, Sam often invites queer communities to activate parts of a queer history together with them. www.samhultin.com