For the exhibition Pride & Prejudice (see below), a show about the creative lives of LGBT refugees in the Netherlands, we conceived and created a board game. It was in the form of a “Game of Goose”, an old European board game similar to Monopoly which propels an avatar along a path with the throw of a dice. Either one moves forward or one moves back depending on the luck of the roll and the content of the space one lands in. A typical example of good luck: “You’re application for asylum has been accepted, roll the dice again”. And of bad luck: “You are being harassed in the asylum seekers center. Move back 8 spaces.” We created 3 separate avatars to move along 3 storylines: An Egyptian gay man, a Turkish transgender woman, and an Ugandan lesbian woman. Each has a unique set of problems and triumphs, and if luck prevails each one will eventually arrive at the goal: a safe and permanent status in the Netherlands.
Studio Louter produced the graphics and together we came up with the questions and strategy. Royal Rijnja kindly printed the games on our information tables at no cost.
>The LGBT Refugee Game of Goose will be re-appearing at the International Queer and Migrant Film Festival in the Balie, Amsterdam from 5 to 15 December 2018.
