A boundless longing for friendship

“How might I define the story I am part of: feminist, marginalised, queer? Certainly. It is a political story, a story of struggle and friendship, of so-called ‘minor’ connections – bonds that are scarcely documented in the archives and that vanish when people die. It is a story we are still discovering and writing, pieced together from often fragile traces, a story that must free itself from shame and silence.”

Hélène Giannecchini grew up with a mother, two fathers and a friend of theirs. And then she came of age with Myriam, her partner with whom she shared the battles against AIDS in France; with lifelong friends, companions in silence and intimacy; but also with the writings of Monique Wittig, Audre Lorde, Virginia Woolf and Donna Haraway.
Her family tree has little to do with biology. If, at times, relatives are merely photos in an album, then we can compose our own as we please. And it is from photos that Giannecchini begins—those she finds at flea markets and in archival research—of queer couples forced into hiding, to whom she seeks to restore, if not a voice, then at least a story.

A mosaic of stories from the past, interwoven with those of the author’s chosen family and her friends. Delving into her own biography and the archives of the LGBT+ community, Giannecchini brings to light those intimate bonds that have been erased and which hold within them the potential for subversion: a political and creative force to establish a new way of being together.

In dialogue with the author:
Sara De Giovanni, Centro di documentazione Flavia Madaschi del Cassero LGBTQIA+ Center
Mauro Meneghelli, Gender Bender Festival
Valentina Pinza, Some prefer Cake Festival