OUR_STORY

a lake, a sea so far

TEXT + ILLUSTRATION BY: E. C. Schuster // Germany

They are a young, queer lesbian based in Germany. They are a student of English literature, an activist, and work as an academic researcher and freelance journalist.

Travelogue – SAFE project

TEXT AND ILLUSTRATION BY: Julia Lama // Spain

Not so long ago I traveled from Spain to Poland to take part in a youth training, where we learned how to raise awareness on sexuality (sexual education), assertiveness, feminism and equality through methodologies of non-formal education.

Have You Been a Good Girl?

text by: Elizabeth Watkin // USA || screenshot: from Elizabeth’s film

The video combines poetry and film to explore and challenge the constraints forced upon women as they grow up: How we blame women for being who they are and blame them when they diverge from who they are expected to be.

Uncle Joe

video by:Zhen Yee Khor // Malaysia

A father talks about getting drafted to fight in a war when he was still a kid, coming home to find out that everyone thinks that what he did was wrong and shows how even if it’s against all odds, he became a loving father and husband that respects and cherishes all people, especially his gay son.

Smear Signal

text by: Corinna Cliff // Germany || illustration by: tom moore // Germany

Eleanor froze. Unable to move, she saw Mandy materializing in front of the wall. She was drenched in blood, just as she looked like when they found her.

Storytelling is one of the oldest and most accessible tools used to share culture and experiences over generations.

But telling our own stories, and sharing our own experiences in our own words, is also a means of empowerment and self-affirmation – especially when our voices have been marginalized for as long as we can remember.

OUR_STORY aims to gather queer narratives from all around the world, seeing that freedom of expression for people that don’t conform to the majority’s gender norms is still relatively or completely absent in some parts of our planet and underrepresented everywhere.

OUR_STORY wants to highlight voices that are and have often been silenced. You’re especially encouraged to submit if you have not published anything before.

OUR_STORY

– submissions

WHEN OUR MOVEMENT BECAME THEIR CAUSE

TEXT BY: Nikola Italo // Argentina

In Argentina we are living through a very particular but incredibly significant course of events. The parliament (Congress, to be specific) has decided to start the project of a new law: the decriminalization of abortion.

The Pool

TEXT BY: Anna Favero // Italy/Germany || ILLUSTRATION BY: Verena Spilker // Germany

It was like diving in pools of liquid past. Suddenly I’m eighteen, an awful glass of amaro and a cigarette in my hands, listening shyly to my brother’s…

To the girl who made me realise that my being straight was a phase!

TEXT BY: Sneha Rooh // India || ILLUSTRATION BY: Elizabeth Watkin // USA

I remember asking you if you were sure of what you were feeling not because I didn’t trust it but because I wanted to be sure.

A Bed Of Stones

TEXT BY: Chroma Curious // India || ILLUSTRATION BY: Tigrowna // Germany

She put her concerns aside and scanned the scenario. On her left was a river and to her right was a small cave.

20th Century Girl

TEXT BY: Shawna Virago // USA || ILLUSTRATION BY: Dixie Turner // UK/Germany

Over coffee and onion rings, we chatted away, sharing our histories, tracing our connections, discovering our lines of intersection and where we were different, as we unburdened much to each other.

Death on the Beach

TEXT BY: Michael Ampersant // Netherlands || ILLUSTRATION BY: Heather Sinclair // Germany

Shy as I was, I would always make sure that I wasn’t entering the wrong cabin, or walking in on somebody forgetting to lock the door who would then be standing there with his pants half-down and his tiny dick, looking embarrassed or angry and later show up in my dreams.

Travelogue – SAFE project

TEXT AND ILLUSTRATION BY: Julia Lama // Spain

The Journey across Southern Island

TEXT BY: Alexander Opicho // Kenya || ILLUSTRATION BY: Beldan Selzen // Amsterdam/New York

We are now driving past Bukolobi Night Club, towards the football pitch where the Al Shabab terrorist once attacked. We are sure no policeman is following us. Uganda police have that type of over-confidence of having been guerilla; they know that no woman can defy their order.