Lecture: Tattoos and queer women at the turn of the twentieth century in Denmark

LECTURE  by RIKKE ANDREASSEN
SATURDAY 18/1 at 3pm

At the turn of the twentieth century, a medical doctor researched tattoos among poor, marginalized women in Copenhagen. While most women had the name of their male lover engraved, quite a high number had the name of their female lover tattooed on their skin. In this talk, I follow in the footstep of some of the women, who engaged in female same-sex relationships at the turn of the twentieth century. Differently from the medical doctor, who saw the tattoos as evidence of the women’s depraved morals, I show how the women’s tattoos can be understood as attempts to reclaim their marginalized positions, resist oppression and create community. As such, the tattoos are a window through which we can gain understanding of women’s same-sex relations and rebellions in the past.

Illustrations from the doctor’s research on tattoos, from women´s in 1891.

Rikke Andreassen is Professor at Roskilde University, Denmark. She is leading the research project ’Queer women 1880-2020’

The lecture is followed by a conversation about Queer archives and how to work with Violent archives (from police, medical records etc, that often condemn both queerness and tattoos) with Rikke Andreassen, Marie Lunau (post doc researcher) and Pia Laskar (history of ideas and behind QRAB -Querrörelsens Arkiv och Bibliotek).

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Welcome to the vernissage Saturday 18/1 at the newly opened Southside Gallery in Högdalen (Högdalsgången 43, in front of Coop) – A day filled with talks and conversations and an evening filled with performance and celebration! Sara Swanson from StaDemonia Tattoo Stockholm has interviewed queers who got tattooed during the 70s and 80s and photographer Del laGrace Volcano has portrayed the storytellers. In addition, Soledad Aznar Rodriguez and Sara Swanson’s StaDemonia Tattoo turns 20 years old and we want to celebrate this with you! Queer tattoo history / stories is an ongoing art project, work of memory and research. Fragments collected for ourselves and our siblings, which tells of times where tattooing and queerness was taboo, shameful and/or forbidden AND an act filled with resistance, power and desire.
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PROGRAM
(the lectures and conversations will be in English. We help each other with language when needed. For more info se posts in the event, or web www.stademonia.com Times and details might change so double check when we get closer)
 
12.00 – Doors open, welcome!

13.30 – “Swedish Tattoo History”, lecture by author, journalist and tattoo historian Helena Meyer, where she sheds new light on the history of tattooing. With the help of articles from Swedish newspapers from two centuries, archival material and old debates in criminology Helena points out that what you heard about tattooing and the person tattooed is partly a myth. More info!

15.00 – “Tattoos and queer women at the turn of the twentieth century in Copenhagen”, lecture by Rikke Andreassen, professor at Roskilde University, Denmark. Followed by conversation about Queer archives and how to work with Violent archives (from police, medical records etc, that often condemn both queerness and tattoos) with Rikke Andreassen, Marie Lunau (post doc researcher) and Pia Laskar (history of ideas and behind QRAB -Querrörelsens Arkiv och Bibliotek). More info!

17.00 – Presentation and conversation about the work behind Queer Tatueringshistoria / Historier, with Del laGrace Volcano, Sara Swanson and Yolanda Aurora Bohm Ramirez. More Info!

20.00 – Performance ’I don’t miss you’ by Kolbrún Inga Söring (they/them/den), a gender queer artist working in Gothenburg whose work spans several areas of artistic expression from performance, video work and site-specific installation to community cultivation and cultural production. They currently run the organisation Status Queer. More info!

21.00 – Performance: PUNK LETTERS! is a band with an undecided never of members. The show is messy and grimy. A punk love letter with a message of revolution. A Rock-opera that meets crust punk. Burning flames. Nasty proposals. Ritual powers. Soft fluff. Sibling-hood. We perform with our voices. And maybe a live ukulele. More info!

21.30 – DJ: Yolanda More info!
 
24.00 – Buy buy good night!

Availability: Unfortunately not the best.  A longer flight of stairs down to the venue, call Renato 0708788925 if needed and he will come up and show you around to the lift which he can unlock. For more questions write to sara@stademonia.com!
 
xxx Klick on image for more info xxx
 
 
With support from Kulturrådet and Stockholms Stad, in collaboration with ABF Stockholm