Rosa Kwir celebrates the stories that for so many years have been excluded from history
What should one expect to experience when visiting ‘Rosa Kwir’?
What is the significance of having such exhibition in your home country?
What can you tell us about the online archive and publication linked to the exhibition ?
All these three coexist together. The online archive is where you can getto know and learn about each of the 25 participants that took part in theproject so far. However, the intention is to make this an ongoing project and we are sure that thefamily will continue to grow along with the archive. If you visit the show you see various books and printouts of excerpts from papers and articles related to trans / lesbian histories and cultures, which you are invited to browsethrough and spend time with.
There is a google drive which is accessible through the online platform that you can then visit if you are interested in reading more about this subject. This is basically a space for learning and for sharing content that relates to the Rosa Kwir project. Our social media platforms are also an educational extension of the physical exhibition.
What is the biggest takeaway from this project and how has it effected your practice ?
This has been one of the most meaningful projects to date. I have come out as a trans man at the same time of starting work on this project which has been quite a special thing in itself. Working alongside my community and creating a space where people can get to learn about us from a place of truth, rid of all the myths that are often portrayed by the media, is important. It is one step further to making people aware of our existence and also teaching them about who we actually are. We are beautiful human beings with so much knowledge and love to give to the world, but who have been silenced and targeted by society for a very long time and continue to do so.
Other than that, I have mainly learnt about people like me only through a foreign lens. These discoveries have for me been like treasures. The way these people have been described through dress, through writing, loving and existing within their own communities. About their struggles, and the places that they have hung out in, the bars and the clubs… However, I am quite sad that I have never really come across any stories of Maltese trans men, butches, and dykes documented in books. I want my mates to know who we are. We might not be able to go back far in history due to the lack of documentation (probably because Malta is a very traditional and religious country) making it impossible for queerness to ever be visible let alone celebrated. Rosa Kwir is what we could say is the beginning of this and I feel positive about all of it. And as they say, better late than never!
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