Queer Care Conversation; Migration, Care & Community organization

Queer Care Conversation van vorig jaar. Foto gemaakt door Maarten Nauw

Datum, tijd en plaats

29 maart 2025

19.30 uur

Oude Kerk | Amsterdam

Talkshow

Maart is Queer Geschiedenismaand. In dat kader organiseren we in de Oude Kerk op 29 maart een Queer Care Conversaties, waarin we ons perspectief verrijken op zorg en migratie. De Oude Kerk was eeuwenlang een plek van zorg en opvang in Amsterdam. Hoe resoneert die geschiedenis met de hedendaagse queer gemeenschap?
 

Onderzoekers Fabian Hölle en Mayalu Mesh gaan in gesprek met Marianna van der Zwaag (curator Oude Kerk) en Julia Visser (co-curator). Samen verkennen we de geschiedenis van ‘space holding’ in relatie tot migratie, voor elkaar en voor onszelf. We duiken in de ontwikkeling van historische en hedendaagse netwerken van vriendschap en solidariteit die queer (migranten) opzetten voor kennisdeling, medische, en juridische ondersteuning. Daarnaast kijken we naar nieuwe vormen van zorg die queer migratie met zich mee brengt en hoe deze Nederland verrijkt met nieuwe initiatieven, verhalen en co-creaties. Performance kunstenaar Papilicious neemt ons ter afsluiting mee op een vertrouwensreis met een shabari performance door de Oude Kerk, begeleidt door Kuntenserven op de harp.

We nodigen je uit om zorg en migratie vanuit een nieuw perspectief te zien: als iets dat zowel historisch geworteld als actueel en urgent is.

Fabian Hölle (they/he) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at VU University Amsterdam and is part of the research project: Engaged Scholarship and Narratives of Change. Fabian graduated as a theater maker from HKU (Utrecht School of the Arts) in 2004 and worked with various directors and choreographers, co-founded theater collective Ponies (2005-2015) and performed in drag. In 2020 Fabian completed a master’s degree in Sociology (cum laude) at the VU Amsterdam and won the 2020 ARC-GS MA Thesis Award (Amsterdam Research Centre for Gender and Sexuality at the UvA). The creative co-creation project LIMBO is part of Fabian’s PhD research. Fabian initiated and co-facilitated LIMBO together with queer refugee community organizers and artists with the aim of providing a safer space for stories and art from LGBTQIA+ people with refugee experiences. They are interested in how the university can be more engaged with (queer refugee) communities and collaborate in an inclusive way with the goal of mutual benefit in terms of knowledge and resources.

Animesh Gautam (Mesh) is an interdisciplinary researcher, writer, and storyteller from Sikkim, India, currently based in Amsterdam. Their work explores the intersections of (eco)tourism, communities, migration, and heritage to envision just and inclusive futures. Mesh is particularly curious about human-nature relations, (queer/Indigenous) subjectivities, world-making, and cultural landscapes. Whether through academic research or performative storytelling, their approach combines everyday realities, sensory experiences, and participatory narratives.
 
In their experimental storytelling, Mesh draws inspiration from personal, shared, and (auto)ethnographic experiences as a queer individual and sensorial stories from their home region of Sikkim in the Eastern Himalaya. They are also dedicated to documenting and amplifying marginalized agrarian narratives on cultural-environmental heritage in the context of globalized tourism and migration.
 
Mesh is a core member of the Critical Himalayan Collective (est. 2023), a transdisciplinary collective focused on the Himalayan region. They were awarded the Wageningen University Fellowship (2021) and the Anne van den Ban Scholarship (2021), enabling them to pursue an MSc in Tourism, Society & Environment at Wageningen University. Currently, they are a co-creator in the Freedom Tours Wageningen Initiative, which develops interactive guided walking tours that explore the complexities of ‘freedom’ through a gender and queer lens.