STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – Art as both a tool of personal expression and as a tool to push for LGBTQIA issues was highlighted in Stockholm, as the local LGBTQIA community observed this year’s Pride.
Speaking to Outrage Magazine, LGBTQIA artists Olof Näslund (Instagram: artbyolof) and Elli Asker (www.elliasker.art; Instagram: elli.asker.studio) both found “healing” in art as a form of self-expression.
“I really had something in me that I had to (let) out,” said Näslund, whose paintings focused on the male form. “Some people write books, some (go into) painting… and you need to find the thing that you want to do.”
“I had lots of issues (like) mental health problems, so for me, it’s like art therapy,” said Asker, a photographer. “It’s a way of how I can express myself. (With art) I can feel free.”
And yet for some, art continues to be a tool to help push LGBTQIA issues.
“This shows different struggles of different people,” said transgender artist Hannes Enocksson (Instagram: bitter_not_sweet; TikTok: @bitter_not_sweet; YouTube: @hannesenocksson3059), adding that this, in turn, creates representation that allows LGBTQIA people to “take up space.”
For these artists, LGBTQIA art need not be only one or the other; instead, it could be both, and at the same time, thereby making it an important tool in the personal development of LGBTQIA artists and the LGBTQIA community as a whole. – WITH JOHN RYAN Nual MENDOZA
