Our queer stories have been erased during states of transition
through struggles with norms and limitations of the past
from the present to the future
Yes, we were there too
We were in a state of change
We were on the way to claiming our place in history
From the margins to the centre
We carried our queer siblings on our backs
In your fight for independence
So why are we still unwritten?
Why is her name unspoken? disembodied?
Let’s call her Elena
That’s what we will call our queer ancestors
When will she be in the big books on the library shelves?
In your children’s history lessons?
Your museum’s centrepiece?
Elena has lived in 1810, 1890, 1950, and beyond
Queerness as presence left unnoticed
Writes its letter on our skin
Queerdos RAGE : Tu mă auzi?
Which are the politics of the dissident body/identity and how can theye safely reflected in public space? How can we as LGBTQIA+ individuals (re)claim our forgotten or eradicated histories and (re)instate their place in everyday life? Between religion, politics, history and public life we encounter our queer identities battling for visibility and safety. No longer will we be constricted to bedroom politics. We will wait for no hero. Only we can lead ourselves towards collective queer liberation.
QUEERDOS RAGE: TU MA AUZI? explores queer potentialities in the present-day city – in public as well as in hidden spaces. In this straight world, in this straight time, as queer bodies, we stumble inside of the precarious and vanishing queer presents that we are making for ourselves while being refused a queer past or history. The memories, the love, the intimacy we share, are all we have, all we are left with. We turn them into fire – queer fire. This rage is simple and ravishing – made up of tender, soft, radical moments and gestures, which we inscribe onto the urban and archival memory of Chișinău.
Our manifestos dancing between the church and the government.
Our loves songs whispered intimately amongst strangers.
Our queer archives reclaimed on the stairs of the National Archives Museum.
Our bodies rejoining and gathering together, summoning strength and volume, to be louder than ever.
The time is now. We belong in this space. Our stories belongs in this space.
A Queerdos Kollektiv 2022 Production
With
Arina Vizitiu
Albina Ciuprin
Eleonora Leah
Ivan Petku
Rotaru Gabriela
Lera Smith
Ursuleac Mihaela
Valeria Bejenaru
Direction and concept
Cat Jugravu
Script and concept
Jenny Browne
Dramaturgy and Choral Direction
Trace Polly Müller
Music Composition
Andrei Raicu
Costume Design
Piotr Alii
Production
Simona Klaniute
Vasile Micleusanu
Video Production
Symbol Media
The performance is part of the Queerdos ACTing Up - summer camp program developed and implemented in Moldova by the Queerdos Kollektiv and produced by Asociatia MOLDOX and Queer Voices Festival with the support of the Embassy Office of the Netherlands in Moldova. It aims to empower LGBTQIA+ people in the Republic of Moldova as active participants in the process of healing and cross-community solidarization.
