drawing in berlin Archives - Page 22 of 95

I finally made it to an event at the Schwules Museum!

Thanks to my friend Suzanne Wegh, who is always on top of the cool events, I knew there would be an evening of poetry, prose readings and talks at the SPIRITS Dyke Bar at Schwules Museum. I’ve been wanting to visit Berlin’s Gay and Lesbian museum for ages, but with chronic illness I can’t do as much as I want.

The Schwules Museum is 34 years old this year, and it is so lovely.

I came in out of the rain and immediately was happy and comfortable and wanted to see everything, read everything and buy all the cool stuff at the gift shop. The SPIRITS Dyke Bar has been a year-long installation by Ernest Ah, T Blank, and C Detrow set up in the cafe, which is super cozy and comfortable. The event was held by COVEN Berlin, a sex-positive transdisciplinary genderbender collective that my friend Sadie Lune belongs to. (Sadie has a piece in COVEN Berlin’s current exhibition at the museum, EXTRA+TERRESTRIAL!)

Here is my drawing of Alex Alvina Chamberland reading from one of her amazing pieces about travelling while trans.

She is hilarious and poignant and writes about lots of Bay Area experiences I could relate to 🙂

Here is Lee Richards telling the audience about how “Voodoo doesn’t give a shit who you sleep with” during their talk.

Lovely picture of me with Lee! What you can’t see is that there was a cute doggie right behind us. Photo by Bard!

The doggie is named Milka which is a brand of chocolate, candy and cookies; I don’t know the name of the person petting it but the man who is a chair user is Ed! I will get the name of the performer below and add it shortly 🙂 their writing was excellent.

edit: Mine Serizawa is the writer seen below!

I am so grateful to begin another year documenting queer culture in Berlin, thanks to my Patrons on Patreon, whose monthly financial support allows me to make art.

My live documentary art is licensed Creative Commons and free for all to share and print, you can read about how that works here. And if you can visit the Schwules Museum, I definitely recommend it!

Immigrant family at the visa office Dec 18 2018 by Suzanne Forbes

We had to go to the visa office, nowadays known as the LABO, to get the hub’s work visa renewed.

As I have said before, the “foreigners office” is not really that bad a place. Although in winter there are no families picnicking on the grass outside, there are still lots of folks eating and drinking. The fact that food and beverages are allowed is such a humane detail. People buying snacks from vending machines and eating vegan salad from Scoom make it seem normal, not terrifying, to be waiting there. It’s also pretty shabby, with this random desk shoved in front of an unused door, in our waiting room. As you can see in the picture. The seats are stained, and everyone is pretty casual about their kids running around.

It’s all of a piece with our experience of German bureaucracy, which has been that they care about getting the procedure correct, getting you what you need, and getting you outta there, not about denying you. The agents in the offices are generally irritated, at you, but not cruel. Their end goal is the same as yours.

Following correct procedure is seen as a public good, so if you don’t follow correct procedure, you are inconveniencing everyone, and why would you do that? Hence the irritation. We actually screwed up, for the first time, forgetting Dan’s most recent paystub, but they found a workaround for it. His visa was renewed, and off we went. I hope things worked out as well for the sweet family I had a few minutes to draw while we waited.

In the waiting room Dec 2018 by Suzanne Forbes

Sometimes in Europe you see very European things, like this guy in another waiting room.

I was waiting at the gastroenterologist office and saw this fellow in the most totally bland minimalist Swiss look. I drew him because I liked the geometry of his folded legs and the boxy chair, even though his style choices were putting me to sleep.

More medical waiting rooms:

Charité one and two

ChipInHead.com

Suzanne Forbes, a New Yorker thriving in Berlin. Crowdfunded documentary art made possible by the generous support of her Patrons. https://www.patreon.com/SuzanneForbes.

Tag Archives: drawing in berlin

Spoken word at the Schwules Museum!