Marian Lens, sociologist, lesbian activist and researcher since the late 1970, is securing an international lesbian archiving.
Active in Les Lesbianaires, the 2nd Lesbian Archives in the world, she later founded lesbian bookshop Artemys in Brussels, the place to be for lesbians, and the first Belgian association to have explicit lesbian statutes. A key destination for lesbians internationally, Artemys became one of the longest lasting feminist bookstore in the world, the only lesbian profiled in Europe.
She co-founded the RainbowHouse, and is nowadays guiding tours in Brussels, to unveil local and international herstory and history of lesbian, women and the rainbow communities.
Several lesbian archives do exist, some others are disappearing, more do not know where to start with. The workshop will explore how to secure the existing archives (venues, funds,…), how to create new ones and how to use the tools at our disposal as lesbians and as activists and hear from activists in Belgium, France, […]