Conversation with Thao Ho, Tarek Shukrallah, İpek İpekçioğlu and Melissa Kolukisagil

Nicht die Ersten brings together perspectives of queer Black people and People of Colour in Germany since the 1980s. The participants of the talk share an understanding of being part of a history that did not begin with them. Melissa Kolukısagil, artistic director of İÇ İÇE, Tarek Shukrallah, İpek İpekçioğlu and Thao Ho reflect on forms of remembrance, networks and cultural practices, as well as on the question of how queer migrant histories are carried forward – even when they remain fragmented. Through conversation, reading and personal reflection, the evening unfolds around visibility, memory and the assertion of queer migrant spaces.

Thao Ho is a cultural studies scholar, activist, and radio host. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Humboldt University of Berlin as part of the research project Tales of the Diasporic Ordinary. Her research focuses on memory and alternative forms of archiving.

Tarek Shukrallah is a political and social scientist, author, and curator. Their work focuses on queerness and anti-queer violence, racism and colonialism, as well as class and intersectionality. Shukrallah is currently a research associate at the Institute of Political Science at JLU Giessen.

İpek İpekçioğlu is a DJ, music producer, and curator. İpekçioğlu’s work combines electronic and Anatolian music with a socio-political engagement around women’s rights, migration, queer, and gender issues. In the early 1990s, İpekçioğlu wrote some of the first queer-migrant texts, including her diploma thesis on lesbian migrants of the second generation from Turkey living in Germany, as well as one of the first German-Turkish brochures on lesbian life in the diaspora. For more than a decade, İpekçioğlu’s curatorial practice has consistently advocated for cultural and gender diversity.

Melissa Kolukısagil is the artistic director of İÇ İÇE and a live programme developer at Stadtmuseum Berlin.