The research project Whose Sustainability? Understanding and Redefining Just Sustainability Transformations through Disability and Queer Perspectives (WEIRD) recently reached a small milestone as the initial research team is now complete until new people join later this year. Guido Caniglia, the principal investigator, has been working on the project on his own until mid-January, when postdoctoral researcher Ely/iott Mermans joined, followed by research assistants Helena Kärppä and Sasha Krikkerik in February.
The team embarked on their first excursion together cruising on the imaginary M/S Baltic Queers vessel in Helsinki City Museum. On a gloomy and exceptionally foggy Wednesday evening, the team, along with other members from the discipline of social and public policy at the University of Helsinki, made their way to the museum to expand their understanding of LGBTQAI+ migration history in the Baltic Sea region from the 1960s up to the present.
M/S Baltic Queers was on display from November 2024 to March 2025 and followed previous intriguing exhibitions such as Being Black – Afro Finns by the Helsinki City Museum. Our group had the privilege of joining an insightful tour guided by the museum staff and exploring the migration stories of people from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, and the Baltic countries.
Since the exhibition featured real interviews and statements from queer individuals in the Baltic Sea region, it offered an authentic view into their lives. The featured private correspondence illustrated how queer people have always been able to connect and find love, friendship, and connection despite legislative and geographical barriers. Understanding can be achieved even without a common language.
The exhibition included an impressive timeline to visualize the history of LGBTQAI+ people in the Baltic region. However, our team continued to ponder the history of queer women and trans & gender-diverse people, as the written history predominantly features men and legislation related to them. This, in a way, leaves room for the conversation to continue. For example, we wondered how this relates to the visibility of different groups within the queer community. Since the exhibition was based on research, we were also curious whether this might indicate that data on cisgender men was easier to collect.
Overall, we found the exhibition refreshing and thought-provoking. We are grateful to the Helsinki City Museum for this opportunity and hope to see more art projects related to queer and disability topics.
This article was written by research assistants of the WEIRD project Sasha Krikkerik and Helena Kärppä.