Helsinki City Museum highlights experiences of LGBTQAI+ migrants

Helsinki City Museum highlights the experiences of sexual and gender minorities in an exhibition on LGBTQAI+ migration in the Baltic Sea region from the 1960s to the present day, said the City of Helsinki in a press release on Tuesday.

The new exhibition M/S Baltic Queers – Experiences of LGBTQAI+ Migration will open on November 15 November and continue till March 2, 2025.

It highlights the diverse life experiences of people who have emigrated from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia and the Baltic states.

The exhibition is based on dozens of interviews with expatriates and returnees. The experiences collected range from the 1960s to the present-day reality in the Baltic Sea region.

The journey towards a freer atmosphere begins in the terminal, where the departure stories of four immigrants are on display, read by actors, along with material related to their departure and migration.

From there, the exhibition goes on to explore love, friendship, activism, identity building and gay tourism. You can explore the theme in more depth through content such as videos, photographs and letters written by private persons.

The exhibition features a sound installation, Looking for Love, composed by producer Minna Koivisto and saxophonist Linda Fredriksson, inspired by the personal ads collected for the exhibition.

Estonian artist Jaanus Samma’s installation Riga Postcards is inspired by the diaries of Latvian artist Kaspars Irbe (1906–1996), which chronicle the life of a gay man in Latvia in different decades.

These diaries also form the basis of Latvian designer Rūta Jumīte’s installation about Irbe’s trip to Leningrad in 1968. The exhibition also features drawings from the graphic novel Homo Line by the Finland-Swedish artist Edith Hammar.

The exhibition is curated by non-fiction author and journalist Antti Järvi and visual artist Kalle Hamm.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to share their own queer stories at the events accompanying the exhibition.

During the opening weekend, an intergenerational reminiscing workshop will take place in the lobby of the City Museum, where you can bring photos to be archived.

The exhibition designer is Kristian Palmu, with Nina Andelin as the graphic designer and Eero Salmio as the producer.

The exhibition will be open for all at free of cost.