Author: krissy

Free Palestine.
Fall is here and my work for a better world continues on their travels, this autumn to continental Europe.

4 October – 1 November 2024  Changing landscapes – Look of the other, will show “It Gets Better, Rural Dykes” as part of an exhibition in Helsinki, Finland at Caisa in Helsinki, Finland.  PDF of the program here.

“A landscape is not merely a view, but rather a combination of picturesque elements such as trees, flowers, and rivers, as well as our desires, hopes, realities, and relationships.
Sometimes it can even resemble a dream or a reminiscence of the conditions in which we thrive or barely survive.
Landscape exists within us, as humans, in the multiplicity of our being and existence. Taking this aspect of being which is characterized by its transcendence as it is not limited to a static essence but is constantly in the process of becoming, the exhibition asks: what are the conditions in which we can flourish? What kind of diverse, lush landscapes can we dream and make into being?
The exhibition, curated by Elif Erdoğan and Remi Vesala, invites artists to reflect on these questions through their trans, nonbinary and queer identities, and across various times and geographical locations.”

31 October -03 November 2024  Cinefabble Paris International Lesbian & Feminist Film Festival will be showing “Rural Butch Femme Rap.”   PDF of the program here

“The Paris Feminist and Lesbian Film Festival, Quand les lesbiennes se font du cinéma, started in 1989.The desire to organise a festival grew out of discontent and frustration with the Women’s Film Festival at Créteil: despite the fact that THE lesbian film always won the People’s Choice Award (prix du public) at Créteil, hardly any space was given to lesbian films and lesbian festival goers.”
i’m happy to share that Espace Reuilly is accessible to disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility (PRM).

 

As this show closes here on my thoughts.  Wasn’t there some talk of “giving less fucks” as we become older dykes?

i am so frustrated with the inaction and obstruction of people who should know better. This moment in history calls for people to do some/anything to stop the genocide in Palestine,  and everywhere. What people CANNOT morally do is to stop someone who is actually taking action to end suffering in the world. We know that not everyone can be in the streets, but people can plant food, buy gum from a child on the subway, attend online meetings, write imprisoned people, call their representatives or commit to taking care of nearby person who needs help.  We use the opportunities we have.

Today in particular i want to write about what happened to my photograph that was in a show curated by @flashnine9 Lola Flash and @junorosenhaus Juno Rosenhaus of @dykearthaus Dyke+ ArtHaus.

I submitted a photo for consideration to be shown in an art show called “Dyke+ ArtHaus Visits the Bureau.” that would be held at the Bureau of General Services Queer Division.  The photo was accepted on April 27, 2024, seven months after the full scale genocidal bombardment by Israel on Gaza began. The @BGSQD is a liberatory space that respects the cultural boycott that @PACBI and Palestinian activists have called for, including posting the boycott on the wall, and who reads a land acknowledgement before events held in the space.

So imagine my surprise May 17, 2024 at the opening when there was no mention of Palestine or any of the international catastrophes happening right now. The curators seemed content with the slogan “Buy Dyke Art” – leaving unquestioned the fact that capitalism is one of the core reasons the world is literally on fire.  Being better consumers did not stop the AIDS crisis then or now. Attendees were not asked to wear masks, (my friends and i did) and i wore my “Saoirse don Phalaistín” shirt.

I returned to the BGSQD on June 16th and wrote “Stop The GENOCIDE” “Free Palestine” “From The River To The Sea” with marker across the full image. On June 20th I received a text with an image of my photo off the wall and the message “Hey Krissy, any chance you were the one who wrote on your piece in the bureau show?”  and I texted back, “I did.”

When i arrived for the artist’s conversation on Jun 21, 2024, i saw that my photograph had been removed from the show. The curators did not tell me in advance that they had removed it.  There was a video conversation on 6/23 to talk about the piece being removed which was poorly attended, only 7 (3 of those 7 being a facilitator, Juno and me) of the 40+ artists. Juno Rosenhaus attended but Lola Flash did not.  Lola Flash sent an email the next day that said quote “I am sorry that I was unable to make the Zoom meeting yesterday. Though, I’m happy to hear that there was the opportunity to talk about this unfortunate (my words) situation.”

The photo was rehung 6/27 with a note stating “This piece was modified by the artist on June 16, 2024.”

Here are the reasons i am so disappointed:

Anti-Arab:  It is racist and anti-Arab to assume that a pro-Palestine message was vandalism. I told Juno that I had written on it when she asked. In their initial message’s photo the piece had already been taken down. What if I had written “Yay Dykes!” on my own work?  Would that have been seen as a criminal act?    If the curators sincerely thought a random person had written on my piece, they should have told that i need to come quickly so i could clean the glass if i wanted to.  They jumped to an assumption of a negative and criminal act — that is classic anti-Arab racism.

Zionist: Immediately removing an artwork with a pro-Palestine message reflects the normalization of colonial zionism.  Why wasn’t there any mention of Palestine in the original curatorial statement of the show – a show happening during atrocities in Congo, Palestine, and Sudan?   Why did they unilaterally remove an artwork that responded to the political/social context in which the show was happening? Who/what were they trying to protect?

Paternalistic:  They knew i wrote on it, they asked me immediately  — but still removed it. Did the curators feel they were protecting someone — either me or the other artists — or their reputations as curators?   In a city where the Dyke March does not get a permit from the NYPD to march by the thousands, at a show with older lesbians proclaiming how they “give less fucks as we get older” and in the neighborhood where groups like Lesbian Avengers and ActUp did whatever it could do to get the government to support AIDS research! The curators to claim that they took the work down because i was “inconsiderate” and “it wasn’t the piece that what was selected by them.”   Removing the photograph was not feminist, and their response after taking it down is ingenuous.

i will continue to do what i can to end forced starvation — with or without anyone’s permission. The only thing that keeps me going is that i still try to use my creativity in the service of a world where people and all the earth can survive.  i participated in a 24-hour fast yesterday sponsored by the Nenagh Friends of Palestine, a solidarity group opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestine supporting a just and peaceful settlement to the conflict. i will continue to promote and observe #BDS, the cultural boycott of the apartheid state, and will continue to speak about Palestine at every opportunity i can, as i have done for the since the mid-1980s when we were also trying – and succeeded in freeing Nelson Mandela.

 

 

 

 

 

Hello! As the genocides and wars rage on, cultural work that speaks to these times is a way to give our spirits some breath.  Here are some festivals that have graciously included my work – which has always observed the cultural boycott of the apartheid (and made-up) state of israel.
i’m very proud to be included in every one.   This summer, my movies “$4 Billion Reasons.” “M or F” and “Rural Butch Femme Rap” will be seen in Australia, France and/or the United Kingdom and online internationally.

AN/Other Film Festival  (tickets)  Another Film Festival puts people with disability at the centre of storytelling and filmmaking. Join us for a week of films by and about people with disability.
Encompassing a program of film screenings and conversations, AN/OTHER Film Festival 2024 presents diverse stories and perspectives from around the globe.
The program is shaped around three themes: Wide Open Spaces and Urban Landscapes, The Simple Things in Life, and Queer Minds and Bodies and Chosen Families.
All films are audio described and captioned.
Queer Minds and Bodies and Chosen Families
Screening 1 | Fri 19th July, 2024 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Screening 2 + Q&A with Steven Fraser | Sat 20th July, 2024 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm

Queer Minds and Bodies and Chosen Families examines the intersection of queer identities and disability, and difficulty of not fitting neatly into categories of disability, sexuality or gender. How do we navigate this in a world that can struggle to understand one type of difference, never mind more than one embodied in the same person?

AN_OTHER Film Festival Screening Queer Minds and Bodies and Chosen Families Humanitix

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Gilbert Baker Film Festival’s  focus is celebrating and amplifying authentic 2SLGBTQIA+ / Queer Stories on Screen and the Creators who bring those stories to life and connecting a Global film loving and film making community (our GBFF Gilbees) by allowing folks to be seen, heard, valued, loved, and respected. Streaming on Eventive June 07, 2024 thru August 19, 2024

Gilbert Baker Film Festival- GBFF takes a unique approach and hosts interactive, international pop in/drop in discussion groups, watch parties, Q & A, networking and social events throughout our festival run.
My film “M or F’ is included in this screening.

M or F (2024) _ Out of This World Collection GBFF2024 _Experimental, original, and fantastical; let your imagination run wild!_ _ Gilbert Baker Film Festival GBFF2024

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36th Cineffable Paris International Lesbian & Feminist Film Festival (31 October -03 November 2024) have chosen to screen my humorous story about “date nights” and being queer outside of urban areas, “Rural Butch Femme Rap.”

From the festival website: ” The Paris Feminist and Lesbian Film Festival, Quand les lesbiennes se font du cinéma, started in 1989. The desire to organise a festival grew out of discontent and frustration with the Women’s Film Festival at Créteil: despite the fact that THE lesbian film always won the People’s Choice Award (prix du public) at Créteil, hardly any space was given to lesbian films and lesbian festival goers.”

One method to control populations is to use administrative violence is to pathologize difference and dissent. In this film, I reenact what actually happened to me in a psychiatric setting.  The clothes I wear provoked a very violent response by medical professionals – I was locked up and forced to take psychotropic medications. This film uses experimental visuals to highlight the insidiousness of the therapist’s words.

From eugenics to ethnonationalism, here we go again.  Also, Free Palestine.

Watch the movie I made about my experience in My Crazy Boxers.

 

Hello, as you all know i’ve been trying to be a human worthy of this planet. I’ve tried to use my cultural work in the service of justice, exposing the pinkwashing of the apartheid state of you-know-who, and supporting the call for #BDS.  All of that does not seem to have helped the Palestinians, but i am not going to allow myself the luxury of being discouraged.  Maybe the organizing we are doing now will blend into refugee support and other new forms of trying to keep one another alive in a more just world.

My movie CAROL was selected for the Brighton Animation Festival, and will screen on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at 6:15pm at Fabrica.

OMG OMG I’m in a program with Barbara friggin Hammer in Marseille, France! Thank you to everyone, this is a triumph for us all.

Mémoire des Sexualités is partnering with Videodrome 2 for a week of cinema, to bring our queer archives to life. Facebook event here.

Intimate and political stories, Sexual and militant connections between different eras, places and generations, Archive films that open windows onto past desires and struggles, Diaries, video cassettes forgotten in cupboards, But also fiction films, to tell the stories we miss.

This festival is also a pretext to meet, and invent new imaginations for our future archives, which, as you know, are moving to Boulevard de la Libération. All sessions are free of charge, the profits will be donated to Mémoire des sexualités for the development work of the new premises.

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ 𝗔𝗨 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗠𝗘 ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ TUESDAY DECEMBER 5 ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ • 6.30 p.m. ✧

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 by Agustina Comedi | 2018 | Argentina | 13 mins

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 by TT Takemoto | 2021 | USA | 6 mins

𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙙𝙮𝙠𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙨 (𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙦 𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨) by Krissy Mahan | 2012 | USA | 2 min

𝘿𝙮𝙠𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 by Barbara Hammer | 1974 | USA | 4 mins

𝙇𝙚𝙨 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙙’𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙣𝙚 by Mario Fanfani | 2013 | France | 20 mins • 9:00 p.m. ✧ 𝙎

𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙄 𝙄𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚 by Metin Akdemir | 2020 | Türkiye | 46 mins Metin Akdemir combines archival footage, interviews, and re-enactments. Working on three films from the Turkish movement of the 80s “Women Films”, he explores the queer imagination that he posed on these portraits of women’s relationships, not being explicitly presented as queer but leaving for him the possibility of ‘dream about it. Session followed by a video discussion with the director

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6 ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ • 6:30 p.m. ✧

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝘽𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙍𝙤𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙧: 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙪𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙇𝙚𝙨𝙗𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙢 𝙁𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙖 𝙗𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 by Julie Perini | 2017 | USA | 47 mins The vibrant portrait of Rita Bo Brown, a white butch from the working class also nicknamed the Gentleman Bank Robber, in reference to the elegance with which she carried out the bank robberies in which she took part in the 1970s as a member of the George Jackson Brigade, dedicated to the anti-racist and anti-carceral fight. • 9:00 p.m. ✧

𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙣 𝙕𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚́𝙨 by Lionel Soukaz and Stéphane Gérard | 2023 | France | 43 mins Daily spleen, drunkenness between friends, conversations and the passing of time: the video diary composed by Lionel Soukaz chronicles the beginning of the 1990s, the comet tail of these never-ending winter years and the nightmare of the AIDS years. But edited thirty years later with Stéphane Gérard, they also serve as a tribute to the deceased, the beloved spouse who is at the center of all the scenes filmed, Hervé Couergou. In the presence of Lionel Soukaz and Stéphane Gérard

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ THURSDAY DECEMBER 7 ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ • 7:00 p.m. ✧

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘅 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗚𝗮𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝘀 Left Hands, a queer and feminist festival with slippery labels, invites itself for a short film session. This is the opportunity to discover or rediscover the selection work proposed by its team which signed its fourth edition last September. • 9:00 p.m. ✧

𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 by Randa Mirza and Oras Elone | 30-45 mins The memory archives of sexualities come to life on the big screen, live, with Randa Mirza’s camera, on the sound layers of Oras Eleon. ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ FRIDAY DECEMBER 8 • 7:00 p.m. ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ • 7:00 p.m. ✧

𝙇𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙤̂𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙙𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 by Lazarus Lazarus and Lupa | 2023 | France | 35 mins The crazy story of a hard gay club open in Marseille since 1967, the Mineshaft, with the presentation of a montage from old bdsm porn VHS. From cassettes shot by hand in Marseille, to USA productions, this film tells the story of a genealogy of S&M images. In the presence of the bar managers, Marc and Angelo, and some regulars 🔈 Session containing explicit sexual scenes • 9:00 p.m. ✧

𝙋𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙚 𝙫𝙤𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚/𝙉𝙚𝙬- 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠 by Peter Friedman | 1998 | France, USA | 40 mins No direct flight… mixes a poetic portrait of this exotic city – seen by a foreigner – with interviews with gay and lesbian Marseillais. We meet a former dockworker who became a gay activist, a lesbian mother and her lesbian daughter, a young man kicked out of his parents’ house for his homosexuality, a mother who is writing a book about her son who died of AIDS and different groups of women . In the presence of director Peter Friedman and Michèle Belladonna, one of the protagonists of the film

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ Saturday December 9 ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ • 7:00 p.m. ✧

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣 𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 by Cheryl Dunye | 1996 | USA | 1h30 Videographer Cheryl Dunye begins research around lesbian and racialized people who would have been active in the cinema industry in the USA before her. • 8:30 p.m.

★★★ 𝗦𝗼𝗶𝗿𝗲́𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝗮̀ 𝗹𝗮 𝗗𝗮𝗿! ★★★

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ SUNDAY DECEMBER 10 ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ •8:00 p.m. 

𝗟𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗼𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗮 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗲́𝘁𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 45 mins At Memory of Sexualities, a shelf is occupied by a few neutral cardboard sleeves. These archives of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence contain hundreds of photos of parties, demonstrations and gatherings. These archives come to life thanks to the voices of sisters Marie Sulpice and Izadora, in a series of podcast interviews which we offer you to listen to, accompanied by the projection of part of the photographic archives which bear witness to the thirty years of presence of the Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence in Marseille. Invited to this evening are the Couvent des Chênaies, the local order of Sisters, and Vanessa Hiblot for an exhibition of a series of photographs taken with the nuns dedicated to Saint Latex.

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ 🔗 More information on our site: https://wp.me/p7zfFm-28PY ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦 ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ 🎟 Recommended free price €5 (+ annual membership €6) 🕐 The ticket office opens 30 minutes before the start of each session. 📍 Videodrome 2 49 Cours Julien – 13006 Marseille Metro: line 2 – Notre Dame du Mont station Bus: line 74 – Stop 3 Frères Barthélemy

Cycle cinéma Mémoire des sexualités au cinéma – Videodrome 2

Baltic Circle Theatre Festival is an international festival for contemporary theatre and performance organised annually in November in Helsinki. Next edition is the 20th and it takes place in Helsinki from 17 to 25 November 2023.

Remi Vesala:  showroom: worldly portals

this room is filled with tension between life and becoming
(they are rewriting a ghost story)

showroom is a metamorphic event concept, where different ways of watching and listening together are experimented with. The edition titled worldly portals is an evening consisting of a curated screening of moving-image works, short films and a live music performance by Niña Sombra.

List of short films shown during the evening

marlow magdalene: Velvet Rain (2019)
duration: approx. 7 min
language: English

The undead are watching you, Suzan. Run, Suzie, run. This conceptual zombie collage centers the eminent violence Black folk experience amidst white surveillance.

krissy mahan: When a Butch Dyke Dies (2014)
duration: 2 min 11 s
language: English

What happens to butch dykes when their health fails and/or they die? There are some things that need to be considered in advance (cocks, exes, underwear…). I made this as a way to make light of a near-death illness.

krissy mahan: My Crazy Boxers (2013)
duration: 8 min
language: English

Institutional violence is sometimes hard to name because it has been normalized as neutral. But people experiencing it know that living “between checkboxes” can be a life or death matter. The film re-enacts a conversation based on actual meetings with hospital staff while in a psychiatric hospital system.

The film contains instances of queer- and transphobic attitudes of the medical industry, invalidation from the medical community and refers to an suicide attempt. These may be distressing or triggering for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

ONCE WE WERE ISLANDS: We Come With Nothing (2023)
duration: 30 min
language: English
subtitles: English

We Come With Nothing is a film reimagining the 2021 stagework of the same name. Inspired by ‘constellation novels’ and ghost stories, it conjures a shadow world of broken connections. What happens when a relationship ends in estrangement? What do we discover when we stare into this black hole?

 

Niña Sombra floods the spaces every time their machines start generating sounds taking every breath below the soil, blindfolded stepping forward the secret passages.

Remi Vesala is a freelance curator living in Helsinki. Vesala takes situations and places as starting points for curatorial work, aiming to make space for complexity, theory and emotions. Vesala shares an artistic practice together with visual artist Jade Kallio. Together they make experimental short films focusing on queer eco-fiction.

marlow magdalene is a filmmaker whose work explores the transgressive space of Black memory, social death, intercellular trauma, and the underbelly of the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. His work showcases a gothic, low-fi lens into a cinematic universe composed through dance, harrowing portraits of Black depression, and lyrical camera movement.

krissy mahan is a self-taught filmmaker who centers marginalized people, such as people with disabilities, working class and queer people.

ONCE WE WERE ISLANDS is a Queer art collective. Chris Gylee and Aslan have been living and making artwork together for more than a decade. Their practice is multidisciplinary with a strong emphasis on writing, film and live performance and involves elements of publication, installation, and curation. www.oncewewereislands.com

In collaboration with Mad House Helsinki.

Baltic Circle