Fellows share their artistic work inspired by lives as members of the LGBT community
In a change to the regular Salzburg Global Seminar panel discussions, Fellows were invited on Tuesday to share their artistic sides with an Open Forum on the topic of ‘Culture and Resilience’.
Hosted by UK-based American cabaret artist and broadcaster Amy Lamé, Fellows from across the world showed films, read poetry and novel excerpts, sang songs and gave short presentations inspired by their work with and identity as LGBT people.
Fadi Zaghmout, author and blogger from Jordan, read an English translation of his Arabic novel Aroos Amman.
Elizabeth Khaxas from Namibia and Jo Shaw from the UK both shared their poetry about being a lesbian and a woman with a trans past, respectively, and a number of short video clips and photoreels were shown, including a cartoon about embracing diversity in Burma, oral histories of 'gay elders' in Hong Kong, and a lesbian theater project in El Salvador.
Below are some examples of our Fellows work.
Hella...hella
Our daughter has come home
Hella...hella
The one who has been cast away is home
let us dance and rejoice today
Shame on those who do not acknowledge
my daughter's homecoming
The African!
Shame on those who treated my daughter
as the stepchild of this continent
Lesbian, gay, transgender, transsexual, bisexual, heterosexual...
The image of the goddess, all of them...
Sons and daughter of Africa
Gods and goddesses!
Much beloved, know that nothing will separate you
from the love which is you
No homophobic dictators
No rejecting parents and siblings
No religion
No sodomy law
What took you so long to find your way home, daughter?
We have prepared a feast for you
Let all the world behold
Our daughter has arrived
The lesbian
The African lesbian
Sela...sela...
Africa rejoice!
- Elizabeth Khaxas
I am You, a trans ally video from Malaysia
The Riddle, by the UN Human Rights Office