Queer Currents 2021 - FITE QLUB

We are a group of gender-nonconforming/ trans artists with a refugee/ migration background and were all part of Art for Change. Art for Change is a creative knowledge co-creation project, which was part of a study within the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, department of Sociology, that centered the knowledge, experiences and art practices of 10 LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/ questioning, intersex and other gender identities and sexualities outside of heterosexuality and cisgender) migrants/ refugees. The project triggered a lot of reflection on many levels, as well as common ground to come together to continue a creative collaboration.

Trans-Clash is a one-day event that intends to have four performances, an exhibition and a queer (safer) clubbing experience, by, for and with the queer/trans/migrant community and allies. Trans-Clash aims to address the highly paradoxical complex societal expectations and assumptions by telling and sharing our own stories and art without being tokenized. Trans-Clash is an event with several performances, an exhibition and a queer (safer) clubbing experience, by, for and with the queer/trans/migrant community and allies. An event that connects and shares ideas, art and celebrates queerness and transness by trans-clashing and negotiating critical, sometimes funny, highly personal, always beautiful and humanizing creations in a relatively safe creative environment on our own terms. Fite Qlub together with Queer Currents will tease some content, for tickets click here or go to www.queercurrents.com

Programme for the teaser on Sunday, August 8:

17h00- 17h30: Welcoming the audience, presenting Trans-Clash with Fabian Holle

17h35- 17h55: Spoken words about Imagination and Memory by Mala Badi

18h00- 17h15: Drag performance by Yusuf Gregori/ Grizolda Storm

18h20- 18h30: Story telling session untitled “Pride in the land faraway” by Sadiqa El Kahal

18h35- 19-35: DJ Music by Mamakil

Bio’s:

Mala Badi (they/them) is a gender non-conforming performer and conceptual artist, writer, and political activist. Born in Casablanca, Morocco and living in Amsterdam. Their writing and artwork focuses on literature and ‘art of exile’. They aim to decolonize art, realities and concepts and use art to dismantle and disrupt systems of oppression.

Yusuf-Gregori L. T. (he/she) was born in a military family in the Soviet Union 43 years ago. His father and mother served in the army, and when Yusuf was seven, he realized he was gay. Currently, Yusuf is waiting to be granted asylum by the Dutch government. Yusuf has a lot to offer: he is an actor, musician, dancer, artist and drag queen by the name of Grizolda Storm. She is a man with a masculine body and a feminine soul. A strange but wonderful person, open to everything, closed to everyone. He considers himself a little bit crazy, which is helpful for creation processes.

Sadiqa (they/them) is a queer non-binary refugee sex worker performer artist from Morocco, living in the Netherlands, they are a rapper, slam poet and storyteller. Through words they share beauty, pain, joy, sadness, laughs and tears, by telling queer stories from a queer perspective. By sharing emotions, stories and experiences we contribute to the creation of realities where queers are not just included but also leading and reclaiming their history. “To me, every art piece is a political statement, it’s a weapon of control for the oppressed, against the falsifications of the oppressed” (Sadiqa).

Mama Kil (they/them) is a writer, artivist, community builder and dirty DJ, playing tunes from the Global South and MENA region: Afro Beats / RAI / Wai Wai/ Alaoui/ Gnawa / Mahraganat Masriya/ Chaabi/ and always adding new genres. “I started to play music and DJ as a joke but my friends took me seriously. So I was showered with the support and love of my community, from workshops, to getting gear to getting gigs in and outside of the Netherlands. But what I'm most humbled about is the love, joy and party vibe I give and get back from the dance floor” (Mama Kil).

Fabian Holle (they/ them) graduated as an actor/theater maker at the HKU (University of the Arts Utrecht, the Netherlands) in 2004. They worked with directors, choreographers and performance artists, co-founded the theater collective Ponies (2005–2015) and performed as drag persona Massiah Carey. In 2020, they completed a Master of Science in Sociology at the VU (Vrije Universiteit) Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where they continued their master thesis research as a PhD candidate for the research project Engaged Scholarship and Narratives of Change, led by professor Halleh Ghorashi.

Fite Qlub makes space for the BIPOC LGBTQI+ and BIPOC non-queer community by creating a platform for people to tell their stories and perspectives. We offer a place to heal from injustice and trauma and give space to come closer to our basic needs. We free ourselves from existing systems and imposed labels through sexual liberation. Fite Qlub represents Asian LGBTQI+ community and will make the community visible by giving space for the unheard voices and unknown problems we face as a community. Asian LGBTQI+ community will be empowered and anti-asian racism will be demolished, along with anti- black racism, sexism, anti-semitism, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia and ableism.