Suinner and Trabelsi are on a mission to create representation and space for marginalised bodies in the fields of media, art, fashion and culture. They have both been involved in Ruskeat Tyt\u00f6t (Brown Girls)<\/strong> media platform, which started as a blog in 2015 by Koko Hubara<\/strong> and now acts as an independent online publication committed to centering and normalising the perspectives of Brown people in Finnish media.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve ever thought about the fact that you\u2019re fat, is that interesting to think about?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A question that both scared and excited the duo, and changed the course of their work together. In response, they set up Pehmee-kollektiivi (The Soft Collective) and Finland\u2019s first-ever podcast that truly talks about the intersections of being fat and queer and brown, especially in the context of living in Finland. Bringing intersectional feminism, radical self-love, body positivity and good vibes, the podcast invites guests to discuss fashion, beauty, health, sexuality, social theories. The podcast dives deeper into the structural discrimination of marginalised people, the muted erasure of fat bodies and how fatphobia is racism. \u201cWe wanted to talk in our own language and use our own words about these subjects, and not always feel like we\u2019re secondary to academic speech\u201d.<\/p>\n They soon realised as important as it was to get their voices out there, visual representation also needed to be explored. Their award-winning instagram account is a beautifully curated collection of photographs from the collective’s safer spaces events and editorials made in collaboration with marginalised artists. \u201cWe felt that it was necessary that people saw us and how we looked. Our instagram is very precious to us, and a lot of work goes into it.\u201d<\/p>\n Meriam Trabelsi photographed as part of the workshop Safer Spaces for Unhad Conversations under the project Together Alone 2.0, exhibited as part of Elastic Alliances at Hanaholmen, Helsinki, 2022. <\/em><\/p><\/div>\n In 2020, as a response to the pandemic and the challenges faced by artists, the Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes released a series of calls to support projects of Finnish and\u00a0 Finland-based artists and artistic groups. Together Alone<\/em> and Together Alone 2.0<\/em>. supported proposals focused on resilience in the face of the pandemic, radical change, societal\u00a0 innovation, inclusive and accessible art practice. In 2021, as part of Together Again 2.0, Pehmee organised Safer Spaces For Unhad Conversations<\/em> in London, inviting four creatives from marginalised and underrepresented communities to create audiovisual pieces based on various psychophysical experiences about the \u201cunhad conversations” they experienced during the pandemic. As a continuation of the workshops, the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux collaborated with The Soft Collective to bring the concept to Amsterdam in May 2023 as part of Together Again<\/em>.<\/p>\n The room they are in is being used by another group, so they take us on a little tour of their working space. \u201cWe are in Lapinlahti. It\u2019s an old psychiatric hospital in Helsinki, which has been turned into a cultural space. This is one of the wings and these are the patient rooms, we have a small office in there\u201d. They settle back down with a coffee.<\/p>\n \u201cWe noticed that people often don\u2019t understand that there are brown people in Finland and we were surprised that Amsterdam was quite segregated. According to the people we met, marginalised cultures are still not mainstream in that aspect, you can\u2019t just dive into them. You can\u2019t be like \u201clet\u2019s go and see BIPOC queer parties\u201d or \u201cLet\u2019s go to a fat hang\u201d, and we found that quite difficult.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But we still discovered quite a few cultural hubs, such as Bar Bario – a beautiful concept. It’s a coffee house that functions as an office space for queer people during the day, with an art gallery out the back. They have a secret menu for BIPOC people who might have less income.\u201d<\/p>\n In Amsterdam, the collective got to work with Zulu Green<\/strong>, a black, queer, rapper, singer and songwriter from Amsterdam. \u201cZulu Green is an absolutely amazing person! In our workshop together we referenced this angle of community caring, through plant medicine and musical healing.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Meriam](\"https:\/\/finncult.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ElasticAlliances-PehmeeKollektiivi_Safer-Spaces-for-Unhad-Conversations-Meriam-Trabelsi.jpg\")
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Safer Spaces for Unhad Conversations<\/h3>\n
Taking the conversation to Amsterdam<\/h3>\n