"What Will The Neighbours Say?"

Queer Life in Haifa 2007-1932

Saturday, 27.02.21, 20:00

Saturday, 02.04.22

Exhibition curators: Dotan Brom, Yoav Zaritsky, and Adi Sadaka (the Haifa Queer History Project) and Inbar Dror Lax

 

More info:

04-6030800
Map

Share

The history of Haifa's gay community is long and fascinating, yet despite its importance on both the local and national level, it has largely remained concealed. In the study of queer history in Israel, as a field addressing the plight of sexual and gender minorities, it is the history of Tel Aviv that has most often been documented; Tel Aviv also figures prominently in the collective memory of the local gay community. The chronology of the gay struggle in Israel, including films on this subject, tends to tell a Tel-Avivian tale, with occasional flickers of Jerusalem. Area code 04 is conspicuously missing. Thus, Haifa's gay history is doubly marginalized: first, because queer history in general is seen as a niche topic that only interests the gay community itself; and second, because queer history outside of Tel Aviv is mostly overlooked.

In this pioneering exhibition, a comprehensive display of gay history is presented in an Israeli museum for the first time. The exhibition tells the story of the LGBTQ community in Haifa, which has always been active in the city – whether hidden from public view and silenced, or unorganized and unfamiliar with the tools of contemporary social struggles. The Haifa Gay History Project initiated this unique exhibition.  The exhibition explores this community as an inseparable part of Haifa's history and social fabric.

The Haifa Gay History Project studies and documents the history of Haifa's gay community. Founded in 2015, the project seeks to remedy the lack of documentation and research on the history of the LGBT community in Israel/Palestine in general, and outside Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in particular. In addition it provides a platform for the local gay community to tell its story in its own voice/s. The project was created by Dotan Barom, Yoav Zaritzky, and Adi Sadaka – social activists and gay historians active in the Haifa Rainbow association. It presents Haifa's gay history out of love for the city and the understanding that its history can never be complete without the perspective of those living on its sexual and gender margins.

We wish to acquaint Haifians with a narrative of which they may not be aware, showing their city from a novel perspective. This narrative spans nearly a century, beginning with the 1932 visit of Magnus Hirschfeld, the pioneer of the global gay struggle, and culminating in 2007, with the first pedestrian Gay Pride Parade held in Haifa. The history of the local gay community is one of oppression, violence, resistance, and perseverance, but also one of creativity, solidarity, friendship, love, and achievement. We invite our visitors to don pink glasses and discover one of the city's many facets – a community that may seem different, but without which no history of Haifa can be complete.

The display on the first floor presents Haifa's urban geography, revealing the histories of different parts of the city from an LGBTQ viewpoint. Scattered throughout the exhibition space are different concepts that assist the visitor in delving into local queer life. The second-floor display presents queer archival research, shedding light on some unique chapters in the history of Haifa's gay community. Here we focus on lesbian and bisexual activism as part of the feminist movement; the growth of the city's trans community in the 1960s; homophobic violence and police persecution in the 1990s; and the history of Haifa's gay Palestinian community.

 

 

The exhibition was produced in collaboration with The Aguda – The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel and with the support of the Haifa Arts Foundation

       

For buying Tickets and further information please leave your details