Red Door Magazine 41: Rebel Lexicon

RED DOOR 41

REBEL LEXICON WINTER 25 - 26

FEATURING

SHANE DRINKWATER

REDDOORMAGAZINE.COM

Editor in Chief:

Elizabeth Torres

(Madam Neverstop)

www.madamneverstop.com

-Poetry Editor: Pablo Saborío

-Correspondents:

-Karlen Schwartz - Germany

-Rathin Bhattacharjee - India

-Melaine Knight (Neon Rebel) Australia

-Tanya Cosio, Mexico

-Brandon Davis, Germany / DK

-Mario Z.Puglisi Mexico

-Miller Almario (Red Visions) Colombia

-Dominic Williams, Wales

Our partners:

Kultivera - Sweden

Write4Word - Wales

Patrick Horner - Canada / DK

Os Pressan - Iceland

Graphic designer:

Yuma Comazzi Alvarado

Cover and featured art by :

Shane Drinkwater

This magazine has been printed in Tranås, Sweden -

and is distributed in Denmark, through Red Door.

Red Door Magazine releases digital and printed issues quarterly with an emphasis

on visual art and poetry.

This includes multimedia art, artistic research, essays on projects, reports on

festivals and activism, as well as relevant media articles and documentation of the

activities by you and your network.

The magazine always features a poetry selection, prose, and occasional interviews

by established and emerging artists, plus relevant upcoming events. We’re here to

give you a handful of essential pieces you can digest in one sitting.

We’re currently seeking visual art, music, film reviews, travel and media articles,

poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.

Simultaneous submissions are always welcome, but if you have a piece accepted

elsewhere, please let us know by adding a note to your submission; we’re not

aiming for exclusivity - but relevant, quality content.

Please send your questions to reddoorny@gmail.com

________________________________________

File specifications: Your article may be a maximum of two pages, and we accept

a maximum of 3 poems per submission. All languages are welcome but please

include English translations. Also include a small biography of up to 5 lines about

you. All this must be included as .doc files or PDF. All images must be attached as

.jpeg images in a resolution of 1080 x 1080 px or its equivalent in format so it can be

used for print and hi-res for web.

Please note we currently accept poetry submissions only via our submittable platform:

https://redpress.submittable.com/submit

RED DOOR MAGAZINE #41

WINTER 25 - 26

Red Press, Copenhagen

ISBN: 978-87-94003-33-9

www.reddoormagazine.com

All rights reserved to the

corresponding authors.

LEARN MORE AT:

WWW.REDDOORMAGAZINE.COM

GIVE YOUR SUPPORT:

WWW.PATREON.COM/REDDOOR

For more than a decade, Red Door Magazine has undertaken

the demanding yet rewarding task of existing as an independent

arts publication within a rapidly changing society, increasingly

driven by speed, instant consumption, and the disposable

treatment of artists who fall outside viral trends, a logic and

lifestyle we consciously resist. As we open this issue, we extend

our sincere gratitude to you—our readers, collaborators, and

supporters—for standing with us throughout this journey, and

we reaffirm our commitment to continuing to offer this space

for thoughtful, diverse voices, especially now, when such

spaces matter most.

01.

02.

03.

Editorial

Currently at Red Door:

Journey through Colombia

A Lexicon of Relearning: Language Emerging

from Recovery & Reconnection.

8

10 - 19

20 - 21

04.

How Did Akanksha Come By

Those Rebellious Sparks?

22 - 23

05.

Poetry selection

24 - 29

06.

Featured Artist: Shane Drinkwater

30 - 37

07.

A Brief History of Ungdomshuset

and the Importance of Cultural Spaces

38 - 41

08.

Tamara Safarova: An act of resistance and

public diplomacy through visual language.

42 - 45

Issue 41 of Red Door Magazine unfolds as a layered

conversation across geographies, disciplines, and lived

realities. At its core is a focused presentation of featured

artist Shane Drinkwater’s work, setting the tone for an edition

attentive to process, place, and embodied experience. The

pages move through a visual passage across Colombia,

reflective writing on creating through impairment and

adaptation, and an intimate account of authorship shaped by

caregiving and daily life in India. Graphic narratives emerging

from Ukraine and a curated body of poetry by our poetry

editor Pablo Saborío, further extend the issue’s range, offering

forms of expression that respond to uncertainty with rigor and

imagination.

09.

Keep Red Door Open:

One year of space and culture for all!

46 - 47

This edition also reconnects readers with ongoing Red Door

initiatives, including new developments within the Poetic

Phonotheque and the wider ecosystem of projects sustained

by the magazine and gallery. Appearing at a moment of

heightened precarity, when escalating economic pressures

place the future of Red Door Gallery at risk, this issue stands

as a commitment to sustaining cultural spaces that privilege

depth over immediacy and collective presence over erasure.

We exist.

Currently at Red Door:


Featured Artist:

Shane Drinkwater

A Brief History of Ungdomshuset

and the Importance of Cultural Spaces

Keep Red Door Open:


Journey Through Colombia by Sharon Duran is a photography

exhibition honoring the country’s extraordinary landscapes

and people. From the Pacific to the Caribbean, the photographs

reveal vibrant colors, textures, and everyday lives, weaving

together desert, sea, and rainforest, and including an intimate

encounter with the Kogui Tungueka community in Dibulla, La

Guajira.

On the 41st issue of Red Door, the theme Rebel Lexicon’s

featured artist is Shane Drinkwater, a Tasmanian/Australian

artist who uses dots, plus signs, arrows, and straight lines

to form structured compositions that read like maps and

diagrams of worlds we have yet to conquer.

Ungdomshuset was a legendary youth and countercultural

space in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district from 1982 to

2007, serving as a hub for underground cultural and political

movements. Originally built in 1897, the house at Jagtvej 69

was cleared by police in March 2007 and demolished shortly

after, sparking widespread protests and months of weekly

demonstrations demanding a new youth house.

For over 15 years, Red Door Magazine and Gallery has been

a free, artist-led space for bold, international expressions,

culture, and community. Today, rising costs threaten our

physical home—this GoFundMe is an invitation to our readers

to help keep our activities going for one more year, sustaining

free exhibitions, performances, and cultural dialogue.

RED DOOR

EDITORIAL

This winter edition of Red Door is published amid a period

of palpable uncertainty, marked by unresolved questions

that circulate at both local and international levels. Cultural

production does not occur in isolation, and it would be

disingenuous to present this issue without acknowledging

the broader conditions that shape its existence. The present

moment demands clarity, rigor, and reflection, as well as

collective reassurance.

To begin, let us make something clear: From its inception, Red

Door was established as an independent publication that

received neither private investment nor government grants,

nor has it relied on corporate sponsorship. This position was

not adopted as a rhetorical stance, but as a structural decision

intended to preserve editorial autonomy. Operating from New

York, a city deeply embedded in such financial exchanges,

made this choice both deliberate and necessary. But it has also

of course made the path uphill, always.

The purpose of this independence has always been to cultivate

an alternative mode of cultural circulation. Red Door has sought

to move through community engagement, sustained dialogue,

and direct human connection. Word-of-mouth, collaboration,

and shared commitment have been prioritized over growth

metrics and institutional validation. The focus remains on

artistic practice and the ideas that art is capable of carrying

forward. Our power, when we choose to work together.

Across previous issues, Red Door has engaged with moments

of profound injustice in Egypt, Chile, Colombia, Ukraine,

Palestine, among other territories. The publication has not

claimed authority over these narratives, but it has offered its

platform as a site of documentation and solidarity. The intent

has been to align with those seeking dignity, accountability,

and historical awareness.

In periods of social tension, art and poetry often function as

repositories of collective expression. They contain appeals,

grievances, and forms of dissent that may not find space

elsewhere. For this reason, Red Door has been shaped as a

publication attentive to resistance, critique, and imaginative

possibility, and fully in opposition to the silencing of our peoples.

Its pages are intended to hold space for conversations about

cultural belonging, diversity, equity, and the conditions under

which expression can remain free.

editorial framework of Red Door is grounded in the protection

of expressive freedom as a non-negotiable principle. From its

foundation, that was a political positioning.

These commitments contributed to the decision, more than a

decade ago, to relocate the project to Denmark. This shift was

motivated by practical considerations as well as ethical ones.

The move reflected an effort to sustain the magazine within an

environment more conducive to long-term cultural work, without

compromising its core values or independence.

This issue is written with a sense of unease regarding the future.

Economic pressures at the local level have intensified, including

rising living costs and new tariffs that restrict access to readers

and supporters. These conditions pose tangible challenges to the

sustainability of independent cultural projects such as this one.

Beyond these immediate concerns, broader political threats

continue to shape the global landscape. The capitalist erosion

of collective well-being, the destabilization of established norms,

and the normalization of authoritarian rhetoric have direct

consequences for cultural life. Writing an editorial under such

conditions requires restraint, and lots of that neverstop desire I

always write about.

Within these pages, readers will encounter an international group

of artists, poets, writers, and initiatives committed to intellectual

rigor and ethical engagement, beaty and community organizing.

Their contributions reflect sustained efforts toward human

connection, critical thought, and artistic responsibility. The

selection underscores the continued relevance of cultural work

grounded in conscience.

Finally, this issue also outlines concrete avenues for support

through platforms such as Patreon and GoFundMe. These

mechanisms are no longer peripheral to the magazine’s mission

but integral to its continuity. Ensuring the survival of Red Door

as both a publication and a gallery depends on collective

participation, and on the shared belief that independent cultural

spaces remain worth sustaining. When cultural platforms act as

reflective surfaces for their communities, they preserve forms of

knowledge that might otherwise be lost or dismissed.

Central to this mission is a respect for plurality. Gender

identities, cultural backgrounds, and divergent points of view

are not treated as thematic categories but as fundamental

realities, and here, we have found common ground.

The diversification of cultural spaces is an ongoing practice. The

8 Red Door Magazine


9

CURRENTLY AT

RED DOOR

On exhibit from February 12th to March 1st


10 Red Door Magazine


11

Sharon Durán M, Photographer

Born in San Gil, Santander (Colombia), and 41 years old, Sharon

Durán has developed a photographic vision that integrates

technique, intuition, and a deeply human sensitivity. She has

portrayed ministers, senators, business leaders, artists, and

communities across the country, always seeking to reveal the

essence and authentic energy of each person.

As an audiovisual media producer, she creates sober, honest,

and emotionally precise content, driven by her passion for

photography, editing, and video animation. Her artistic practice

has led her to travel through diverse territories, documenting

cultures and landscapes with respect, attentiveness, and

closeness. Her work is, above all, a bridge between people,

their stories, and the places that define them.



13



15

RED DOOR Gallery, in collaboration with the

Embassy of Colombia in Denmark, presents:

Journey Through Colombia

A visual journey that pays tribute to a country of exceptional

landscapes. From the Pacific to the Caribbean, each

photograph reveals a vibrant universe of colors, textures, and

lives that make Colombia a unique territory.

The exhibition brings together desert, sea, and jungle, and

captures the experience with the Kogui Tungueka community

in Dibulla, La Guajira, whose simplicity and deep connection to

the land enrich the journey.

Journey Through Colombia celebrates the magic of the

territory and the greatness of its people. It is an invitation

to discover the beauty that inhabits every corner of this

extraordinary land.



17



19

A Lexicon of Relearning:

Language Emerging

from Recovery

& Reconnection.

Access Intimacy

A relationship where access needs are

understood and met with care, trust, and

ease. Not transactional or institutional,

but relational—rooted in consent,

interdependence, and mutual respect

and often cultivated in community

spaces, healing circles, or long-term

collaborations.

Bodymind

A holistic understanding of self

where mental, emotional, physical,

energetic, and spiritual experiences are

inseparable. Aligns with the Indigenous

worldview, which holds that healing is

not compartmentalized but relational

and interconnected.

Care Networks

The constellation of people, spaces, and

practices that provide support—formal

and informal, spiritual and material.

These networks are nonlinear, shifting,

and shaped by community traditions.

Embodied Knowledge

We hold knowledge in the nervous

system, muscles, breath, intuition, and

lived experience. Crucial for disabled

artists whose work emerges from sensory

adaptations, chronic pain, or altered

cognition after trauma (such as brain injury

recovery).

Energetic Access

A concept emerging from energy healing

traditions, in which emotional, spiritual, and

collective energy affect one’s capacity to

participate. Includes sensory overwhelm,

ancestral memory, and intuitive

boundaries often excluded from Western

disability frameworks.

Healing Beyond Wellness

A movement framework that connects

disability justice, ancestral healing

practices, and collective liberation. It treats

healing as a political, community-driven

act rather than a commodi>ied personal

wellness project.

Situated Experience

How one’s identities (Indigenous

heritage, gender, disability, trauma history,

community role) shape perception and

artistic voice. Recognizes that access and

oppression are contextual and relational.

Slow Methology

A creative and research process that

prioritizes depth over speed. Draws from

both crip time and Indigenous cyclical

time, allowing ideas to emerge organically.

Trauma-Informed Practice

An approach grounded in safety, trust,

choice, and empowerment. Recognizes

that trauma—personal, intergenerational,

colonial, and neurological—shapes

the body’s responses. Makes space

for triggers, slowness, and nonlinear

processing.

This lexicon emerges from my lived experience as an Indigenous, disabled, and community-rooted

artist working at the intersection of healing, storytelling, and collective care. It gathers the concepts

that shape my practice and the communities I move within—ideas born from brain injury recovery,

embodied knowledge, and years of organizing spaces where access is relational, intuitive, and rooted in

ancestral wisdom. These terms are not fixed definitions but living practices, offering a shared language

for imagining liberatory futures grounded in interdependence, dignity, and belonging.

Collective Care

A framework where community

members share responsibility

for wellbeing. Moves away from

individualistic “self-care” models and

centers communal support, Indigenous

knowledge, and reciprocal healing

practices.

Crip Time

A flexible approach to time that accounts

for fluctuating energy, cognition, access,

and capacity. Expands timelines, rejects

urgency culture, and honors healing

rhythms—Integrates

Indigenous

cyclical understandings of time rather

than Western linear productivity.

Crip Wisdom

Knowledge generated through disabled

embodiment—intuition, slowness, pain,

resilience, adaptive creativity, sensory

sensitivity, and nonlinear processing.

Often marginalized in colonial and

capitalist frameworks, but essential for

imagining liberatory futures.

Disruption of Normativity

Rejecting able-bodied, neurotypical,

capitalist, and colonial standards of how

one should work, communicate, create,

or heal. Makes space for alternative

rhythms, nonlinear storytelling, and

adaptive improvisation.

Interdependence

The understanding that all beings exist

through relationships of mutual reliance.

In disability justice, this resists the myth

of independence and embraces shared

vulnerability, collaboration, and community

responsibility.

Libratory Access

Designing access not merely as

compliance or accommodation but as

an imaginative, creative, communitycentered

practice aligned with collective

freedom.

Radical Hospitality

Creating a welcoming space for disabled

bodies and minds without conditions.

Rooted in Indigenous traditions of

community care and mutual respect.

Rest as Resistance

Honoring rest as a political survival strategy

for disabled, Indigenous, and brain-injuryaffected

communities. Opposes capitalist

extraction and productivity frameworks.

Sensory Sovereignty

The right to control one’s sensory

environment— light, sound, touch,

pace—and to set boundaries that

protect wellbeing. Reclaims autonomy for

neurodivergent, brain-injury, and highly

sensitive individuals.

Born in Orange County, California in 1971, Laura

Arena is an American Indigenous artist, activist,

energy healer, designer, and cultural organizer

living and working between Berlin and New

York City. Her participatory practice spans

photography, video, installation, writing, and social

interventions, engaging storytelling, human rights,

gameplay, and collective social engagement.

Rooted in Indigenous perspectives and energetic

healing, her work explores belonging and

acceptance and has been profoundly reshaped

by her recovery from a brain injury in 2021. She

holds a B.S. in Communication (Video Production)

from Emerson College and an A.A. in Multimedia

Design from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, with

additional studies in Art & Sustainability and the

Artist Summer Institute. A former director of Lucky

Gallery, she is the founder and director of Studio

DE-CONSTRUKT in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and

her work has been exhibited internationally, with

residencies, workshops, and works held in private

collections across Europe, Asia, the Middle East,

and the United States. Website: https://www.

lauraarena.com/



21

How Did Akanksha

Come By Those

Rebellious Sparks?

me to try to seek out that decent, sober girl of yore in my daughter

when I would come home for the holidays. She was no more the

same girl and her rebellious nature made life difficult for me. I

remember the night when I woke up and found her mobile under

her pillow. I had hardly picked it up and was trying to scroll through

her photos or something like that when she woke up and snatched

the mobile out of my hands. She was literally beside herself.

“You have no right to take my mobile like that!” she missed out. I

was stunned. What was my daughter, the daughter that I had had

high hopes of, talking about. I had no right to take her mobile!

That was the beginning. She must have lost grown desperate from

then on. Then there was that afternoon when after myspouse and

I had fallen out regarding something trivial, she called out to her

mother:

“How can you stay with a man like that, Ma!” The surprise, fury

on her face that day shocked me like never before. She stopped

opening up to me from then on and I had to play Sherlock Holmes

to find out the boys in her life. I told her first lover that she would go

out in my eyes if they were in a relationship. They broke up soon

after that.

I was not aware of the rebel in me till some of my people started

telling me that if others went to one direction, I was bound to go

the other! In case, I couldn’t make myself clear to you, let me try

to give an example.

All my family members were supporters of East Bengal, one

of the three popular-most footballs team in Kolkata, the other

two being Mohun Bagan and Mohamedan Sporting Club. That

bleak afternoon, there was the IFA final match between the

two. East Bengal inflicted one of the most humiliating defeats

on its arch rival, Mohun Bagan by a margin of 5-0.

They toyed with the opponent and nothing went Mohun

Bagan’s way that day. As the match concluded there were

scenes of wild celebration and jubilation in my home. While

my siblings, relatives, neighbours were all dancing, screaming,

bursting crackers, I was at a loss not understanding what was

there to celebrate about! If one team scored five goals and

subjected the other team at their mercy, was it such a big deal

after all? Being a softie by nature, I was livid and I expressed

my angst in the only way I could. There was a framed photo of

Lord Govinda Deva, a form of Lord Krishna, on the wall. Having

found it difficult to cope with the din and scenes around me, I

vented my anger by giving a blow to the framed photo. The

framed photo fell down to the floor and cracked into pieces.

My Ma believed for a long time that nothing good was

happening to me because of the sin I had committed that day

by daring to break that photo of Lord Govinda Deva to pieces.

In fact, she made me accompany her of an Indian Tour to places

of pilgrimage soon after the incident. Anyway, that is beside the

point but what may be of some interest to you, reader, was to

make out that rebellious spark in me from early on in life.

Surprisingly, despite my poor academic background and all, I

landed up with a teaching job in Bhutan Civil Service soon after

that tour to places like Varanasi, Tiruvallapuram, Pondicherry

and Bodh Gaya in the neighbouring state of Bihar. By the turn of

the millennium, I was married and blessed with two daughters,

Akanksha and Anushka. Akanksha studied in the same school

in which I taught and passed the Board Examination as the

topper from our school. In fact, she might have secured the

fourth position in the whole country.

I did not share all those pieces of information for you to take me

for s big show-off. I was just trying to tell you that as long as she

was there in Bhutan, staying under my care, she was one of the

most well-behaved girls of our school, that is, Chhukha Central

School in Chhukha, Bhutan. But once she came down to my

hometown Kolkata for further studies, the distance between

the two of us started growing. It was very naive and difficult for

It was I again who told her not to stay at her boyfriend’s house

when she was going to attend a marriage party at his place in

Malda. I tried to acquaint her with the suspicious nature of the rural

people. I would like to believe that I had no hand behind her loss

of interest in him. But I had a terrible time when she fell head over

heels for the third time. When I asked her about her latest beau,

she tried to bypass the topic by stating that he was nothing more

than her ‘best friend’. I don’t know much about the western world

but I had seen it some movies that best friends normally end up

as the better halves. I was worried. When Akanksha was talking

about Pat Cummings, the Australian cricketer and his handsome

looks, I thought she had actually her best friend in mind.

Just a few months back when my daughter informed me that the

boy was getting married, I thought to myself : Good riddance. I felt

that way because of my daughter’s infatuation, madness, call it

what you will for this lad. They were inseparable and would make

every trip together. One night when I was coming back home

from a wedding party with my younger, Anushka, she asked the

driver to play some songs on the inbuilt audio-recorder in the cab

and when it started playing a popular Hindi tune (Pal pal dilke pas,

tum rahate ho ../ You stay close to my heart every single minute),

my daughter turned her head and exclaimed: Baba, this song

happens to be Pupu’s ( the nickname of Akanksha) these days.

The very next moment, I got worried thinking that my daughter

was still missing this lad!

I don’t know if you find something wrong with me, dear reader

but let me tell you this that my relation with my elder daughter

has improved a lately. She is now posted in the busy city of

Bangaluru. She stays all by herself. There is not much I could

do about her any more. But I still have high expectations from

her and have forgiven her all her faults under the impression

that she takes after her father and has inherited the rebellious

sparks from her father only!

The end

Rathin Bhattacharjee from Kolkata, India, graduated from C.U. He joined BCSC

(Bhutan Civil Service Commission) as an English Teacher in 1990. Awarded

His Majesty’s Gold Medal (2018) for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching, he

has been published and anthologised extensively. His novel, “The Damon in

Doctor’s Disguise” on Web Novel has won critical acclaim. His latest book “‘I

Love You’ in the ICU & 20 Other Stories” has been nominated for The Legacy

of The Literature Prize, 2025. He loves writing, blogging, translating, critiquing

and editing.



23

POETRY

Grecian Urn, Busted

Monster: A Cento

You there, with a crack in your eternity.

You, pursuing the seams

as if they were dreams.

With your “downwardly, inwardly,”

and you know I hate that

trivialization of the sex act.

The best of the world, my ass.

How could you be content with

endlessly chasing

soul encasing?

That’s no playful chase.

That’s a rape’s race.

Only deluded men would say

differently.

on the day the Oklahoma state legislature passes a law—

the most restrictive in the U.S.—banning abortion at conception

After I have cut off my hands,

you drive. The road aims for a mountain.

By the roots of my hair, some god got hold of me

here / in the room of my life—

a woman in the shape of a monster.

Although it is a cold evening,

there is a parrot imitating spring.

One sound. Then the hiss and whir

while you walk the water’s edge.

However the image enters,

the scene within the paperweight is calm.

Late in the season the world digs in, the fat blossoms

from Sappho to myself consider the fate of women.

The eyes look front in humans.

Drema Drudge is a novelist and poet whose work blends emotional candor and the everyday with longing. She earned her MFA

from the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing. Her work has appeared in The Louisville Review, Cathexis Northwest Press,

and is forthcoming in Suspended Magazine.

Nancy Flynn grew up on the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania coal country, spent many years on a downtown creek

in Ithaca, New York, and now lives near the mighty Columbia in Portland, Oregon where she grows a field of dahlias in her front yard.

Recent poems have appeared in Fence, Halfway Down the Stairs, and kerning | a space for words. Her website is www.nancyflynn.com.



25

POETRY

THE LONG COAST

Self-Portrait as Picasso’s Girl Before a Mirror

with Body Dysmorphic Disorder

My life has been one brilliant lie.

I thought myself sculptor of seas,

The reader of rainfall.

When the wind blew strong, I shouted

Across a swamp full of reeds

Whose answer hissed a unison Yes!

Entire lives are revealed in a day:

Air sharpens all afternoon

As oaks fill the pond with shade.

Something in the stream I never crossed—

Not the water moccasin, nor the rusted bucket

Stuck in mud—summons a past

Thought lost or atrophied, as if the current

Sketched a rippled picture of Paradise.

A colder water wells up,

Flooding spirit through my poverty.

This is my treasure and keep. The world

Looks small, many islands in a single sea.

I will finish my days among animals,

Hew a rough, blue jewel of exile.

Reinvent me before this mirror—

brush me in modern pink

lavenders. Dress me

naked in garish suns.

Oh, what agony to be

conjuring’s ugliness. I am

moons of youthful

old age, my visage bilingual

in shadow light. I reach

to grip my fleeting

reflections. I am Schrödinger’s

most prized dream— sexless

seductress. My breasts

are testicles. My left arm

is an erection. Oh, swoosh

of blonde in claustrophobia

of voluptuous color returns

to me anorexic green.

My nipples visit me

in asymmetric scars. I saturate

erotic creams, blushing

cheeks. I am cubist

misunderstanding—insane

as the square root of two

disenfranchised to its imaginary

lowercase ‘i’. Quantum

physics of the body. Curved

acuteness. Almond eye

without sclera. I burn

my retinas in the sham

of sight. My mind prunes

me like a felled tree. I am

Picasso’s libido but can’t sate

his lust. There is nothing

I won’t exhibit. Are you

titillated yet?

Gary Keenan is a poet and musician living in Tunia, Cauca, a village of 1800 in the Colombian Andes. His poems have appeared in

journals in the US, England, Ireland, Australia and India since 1979. His book ROTARY DEVOTION won the 2016 Poets Out Loud

Award and is available from Fordham University Press.

Grace is an emerging queer painter who lives with a chronic illness and is working on her first collection of poetry. Her work

explores the intersections between faith, the natural world, art and the body. In her spare time, Grace enjoys listening to Bob

Dylan, reading suspense novels and exploring absurd angles of art history.



27

POETRY

Bird of Paradise

twirls their black party dress

offset by an iridescent necklace

Dad’s karate chopping cinder blocks in the garage

with his hard mason’s hand while practicing for

his brown belt test. You got to hit it just right. He

tells me as his audience of one before he does it,

then wipes the dust from his palm, no sign of bone

or blood.

The same hand that holds mine as we venture into

the Atlantic at Jones, him laughing and me terrified

because the ocean is bigger than him, but he wins

every time. He teaches me how to body surf in rough

water, one of the many things he is good at.

The same hand that grabs the necks of two teens

after chasing them barefoot up Meadow Lane in

winter and a white t-shirt after they mess up his

door with dirty snowballs to make them clean it,

which they do till it’s spotless.

The same hand who slams the front door of the

Gran Torino then veers making skid marks on the

blacktop in front of our home because dinner is

served late by my mother who’d been teaching a

dance class in Pelham.

The same hand that leaves an imprint in the kitchen

stucco after death-chasing my brother and shaking

at my mother for sticking up for him, forever trying

to keep the peace and her son out of trouble.

The same hands that grasp onto mine and my

brother’s with a gut full of cancer trying to speak

through the drugs and tsunami of dying fiercely

squeezing with a broken grip to tell us what we

already know.

One

in Their wholeness

both/and

How to Understand Gender

I see the charred remains of my school

I see the remnants of a mosque

I see the scorched door of our home

I see the ruins of my childhood

I see the corpses of my family

I hear the screams of children

I hear the sound of an F-35

I hear the wailing of mothers

I hear the dropping of bombs

I hear the unbearableness of silence

I smell the stench of the dead

I smell the fear of Mohamed and Rahaf

I smell the anger of little Nour

I smell the fetidness of our olive groves

I smell the burning of my friends

I taste the absolution of hunger

I taste the breadlessness of bread

I taste the thirst for a Gaza Cola

I taste the blood of Al-Awda Hospital

I taste the longing for martyrdom

I touch the cold flesh of babies

I touch the dying of our dreams

I touch the torn keffiyeh of Yousef

I touch the mangle of a book I once loved

I touch the faces of the faceless

I see without eyes

I hear without ears

I smell without a nose

I taste without a tongue

I touch without hands

I am a child of this world

but not long for it

I am a child of Palestine

but I live in the void.

‘I am a child of Palestine’

Maureen Martinez (she/her) is a late-blooming, emerging writer and irreverent woman of faith working as a counselor at an

all-boys Catholic high school in New York City for over 20 years. Her writing is published in Meniscus, Folly Journal, Gramercy

Review, Washington Square Review, The Listening Eye, Please See Me, Boudin, Artemis, Bar Bar, Broadkill Review and others.

Agneya Singh is a writer and filmmaker from India whose work explores themes of resistance, memory, ecological collapse, and

political grief. His debut feature film M Cream received multiple international awards, and his recent poetry engages with lived

experiences of war, occupation, and environmental devastation. Based between India and Malta, he is currently completing a

novel set in Kashmir.



29

FEATURED

ARTIST

SHANE

DRINKWATER

SHANE

DRINKWATER

Shane Drinkwater was born and raised in Tasmania but now

lives and works in Queensland, Australia. Drinkwater dropped

out of the art academy at home in Tasmania after a very short

while because he felt he did not fit in. Got a scholarship in Paris

for a few months, but was so happy to be there that he stayed

for 6 years before moving back to Australia.

Since Drinkwater was a child, he has been very fascinated

by working with everything that involves numbers, such as

collecting and classifying them. Shane often talked about how

many steps there were to school, or to a store, and sometimes

it was a game to guess how many steps there actually were to

the destination. Numbers have always been a big part of his life.

Shane throws himself into an art where the same motif or idea

is repeated over and over again. He always uses the same

pattern, so the viewer should not waste his time looking for

motives or meaning - the viewer must make his own story. One

could almost use a comparison to the small cells of the excel

sheet, which are filled by necessity with a color, a shape or a

simple motif such as number systems, letters or characters

reminiscent of extinct written language. In a Danish context,

some of his works may in fact be reminiscent of rune stones or

primitive petroglyphs. The materials Shane uses for his works

are often cardboard, pattern paper or wallpaper painted with

ink and acrylic paint.

The inspiration for the triangular works comes from Shane’s

childhood. Tasmania has almost a shape like a triangle, and

the first time he had to sail from the island to Australia with his

Mother, he said that now they could see Tasmania as a real

triangle. Shane believed that they now saw the land from its

bottom base and not from one of the side points on the triangle.

pulpholyoke.com/artists/99-shane-drinkwater/works/

cavinmorris.com/the-cosmic-cartographies-of-shane-drinkwater

instagram.com/shane drinkwater


37

A Brief History of

UNGDOMSHUSET

and

the Importance

of Cultural Spaces

BZ’else i Gyldenløvesgade 12 1983.06.18

-By Karlen Schwartz

1897 Copenhagen, Denmark. The developing labour

movement in Denmark constructed a building on Jagtvej

69 in Nørrebro that would come to be known as Folkets Hus

(Danish: House of the People). During a time in which the labour

movement struggled with garnering the support of authorities,

Folkets Hus acted as one of the headquarters of labour

organisations. A building that would go on to host historically

significant events and personalities. A glaring example of this:

In 1910 Folkets Hus held an International Women’s conference,

during which the idea of an international women’s day was

launched. Additionally, Rosa Luxemburg was among the

visitors of Folkets Hus.

It is no surprise that a building with such progressive history

proved to be an ideal location for a cultural centre. In 1982 the

City of Copenhagen bought the property, with the intention of

putting it to use as a youth centre, the birth of Ungdomshuset.

The house was ultimately assigned to a group of young people

to develop it into a self-sufficient centre. Some of these young

people had ties to left and autonomous groups resulting in

repeated political tension, especially concerning the initial

handover of the house to the youth. Ungdomshuset came to

act as a meeting place for likeminded young people, organising

concerts, parties and communities meetings.

The first blow came in form of mould and fungus in 1996. A hurdle,

however, that was overcome by independent restoration led by

the activists themselves. The fire department nodded off on the

removal of mould and the condition of the house, much to the relief

of the users of Umgdomshuset. Unfortunately, the second blow

did not leave much room discussion: The City of Copenhagen

concluded that the building was extensively run-down and

announced the closure of Ungdomshuset, to the dismay of many.

The third and final blow was the sale of the building to Faderhuset,

a free church with the plan of demolishing the house. The blank

refusal of the users to leave the property resulted in a court order

for clearance. 2006: The chain of events leading to this point

resulted in extensive unrest in Nørrebro, with the police ultimately

clearing the property in 2007 facing heavy demonstrations,

vandalism and arrests. The building on Jagtvej 69 was ultimately

demolished. Looking back, a painful blow to youth culture.

With the year 2008 came a new agreement between the City of

Copenhagen and the youth for a new youth centre, a strenuous

conversation to be sure. The new Ungdomshuset found its

home at Dortheavej 61 in Nordvest, approximately 2.8km from

its old location at Jagtvej 69. Similarly to the previous location,

Ungdomshuset hosts concerts, parties and the property includes

a bookcafé, meeting rooms and workshops.



39

The phenomenon of youth and culture spaces falling off the

deep end due to politics is unfortunately not limited to this

example. In the Berlin district of Neukölln the culture centre

Oyoun was met with harsh cuts to its financial support.

The reason: a planned Israel-critical event advocating for

peace in Palestine. An event that was almost instantly met

with harsh words from Berlin’s culture senator Joe Chialo,

accusing the culture centre and its users of antisemitism.

After fighting against the accusations and underlining the

importance of cultural voices in Neukölln, the centre still

faced an end to its financial support. A culture centre that

specifically focuses on supporting queer-feminist and

migrant voices, forced to rely on crowd-funding keeping

itself afloat.

Arne BauHauss 1 års fødselsdag aug. 1988 copyright: Magnus Christiansson

While we hope that this trend of pushing cultural spaces into

corners lessens, one should recognise that these spaces

are as important as ever. These spaces pass the microphone

to groups that are so often overlooked. Be it marginalised

groups or the youth in general, a cultural space for them to

utilise and develop are fundamental in the growth of society.

Spaces like Umgdomshuset create an environment for the

youth to thrive and find their own voices. The self-expression

of the youth was something that might have been feared in

the past, but in truth it should be encouraged. Investing in

such centres means investing in the future and its potential.

Additionally, it ensures that young people have a safe space

to grow, access to support and inspiration.

Karlen Schwartz, originally from Berlin, Germany, is studying

history and journalism, with the ambition of breaching the

realm of culture journalism in the future.

Trepkasgade - Belejringen omkrimg Ryesgade 58 1986.09.14-22

All images from this article were borrowed from the bz portalen archive.

40 Red Door Magazine www.reddoormagazine.com

41

Tamara Safarova

(b. 1992) is a Ukrainian

artist of Azerbaijni origin

based in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Her artistic practice

began in 2022 as a direct

response to Russia’s full-

scale invasion of Ukraine

— an act of resistance

and public diplomacy

through visual language.

Working across painting, graphics, comics, photography,

digital media, and performance, Safarova explores themes

of identity, memory, cultural heritage, gender, trauma, and

transformation.

Her work seeks to reveal the invisible: making internalized

experiences and collective silences visible, tangible,

and shared. Mythology, personal history, and symbolic

archetypes form the core of her artistic vocabulary. Safarova’s

visual language bridges the deeply personal with the mythic

and the political, grounded both in the natural world and in

the layered cultural context of post-Soviet and postcolonial

Ukraine.

Her first solo exhibition took place in 2022 at the

Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany. Since then, her work

has been shown internationally, including at Santa Maria

delle Grazie (Venice, Italy), Kühlhaus (Berlin, Germany), the

National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art (Kyiv,

Ukraine), Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv, Ukraine), and Poltava

Art Museum (Poltava, Ukraine). Her works are held in public

collections in Italy, Belgium, and Ukraine.



43

44 Red Door Magazine www.reddoormagazine.com

45

KEEP RED DOOR OPEN:


Red Door Gallery and Magazine is an independent, artistled

cultural platform that has existed continuously since

2009. What began as a small publication has grown into

an international hybrid infrastructure: a printed and digital

magazine, a physical gallery space in Copenhagen, and an

ongoing program of exhibitions, performances, workshops,

and festivals that are free to the public and publicly accessible.

Pretty much, a culture house without the governmental or

private funding, a grassroots initiative from and for artists.

For over fifteen years, Red Door has supported writers,

translators, cultural organizers, performers, artists, filmmakers,

musicians, artistic researchers, and creative practitioners

working outside commercial frameworks. It has functioned as a

space for experimentation, international exchange, and critical

cultural dialogue, connecting local communities with a global

network of contributors and collaborators. We’ve focused on

the multicultural, multimedia, multilingual expressions to create

platforms of dialogue where representation is at the center of

the room.

Today, that continuity is under threat. Rising rents and utilities,

increased costs of digital infrastructure, and broader economic

instability, combined with tariffs and logistical barriers affecting

international distribution, make it increasingly difficult to

sustain Red Door as a physical space and a site of free cultural

production. Like many independent cultural initiatives, Red

Door operates without structural public funding and relies on a

combination of voluntary labor, symbolic fees, and community

support... and due to our love for art and community, we’ve

released more than 40 issues of Red Door Magazine, more

than a dozen art and poetry books through Red Press, almost

100 podcast episodes, several free public festivals, and

dozens of cultural projects within the Nordic region. Suffice

it to say, we neverstop. Which is why your support is needed.

This campaign is a collective effort to stabilize the most

basic conditions of existence for one year. It does not

cover salaries, publications or any of the more sustainable

projects. It just covers the physical infrastructure (and the

free-for-all programming) for one year of RED DOOR, while

we work on becoming a self-sustained union/non-profit

organization. The current amount of 250k dkk (40k usd) will

help us with:

- Physical Infrastructure: 180k covers rent, utilities,

insurance, domains and essential software to keep

operations running. Aka the non-negotiable expenses that

allow Red Door to exist.

- Non-profit(able) programming: 65k which help us fund

the cultural activities that generate no profit but constitute

the core public value of Red Door, such as the monthly art

exhibitions and workshops, rotating music & performance

calendar, and our yearly film festival (all of these activities

are free to the public).

- The remaining 5k are the fees of Gofundme.

If you’ve been published, exhibited, heard and supported

at Red Door, or if you’ve benefitted and enjoyed from our

many activities, please allow us the opportunity to keep our

adored red door open.

If you’d rather give a mobilepay donation, the code is

3302AS

https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-red-door-open



47

THE POETIC

PHONOTHEQUE

RED DOOR’S NETWORK

The Poetic Phonotheque is a registered cultural nonprofit, serving as a living archive. We are dedicated

to preserving and sharing contemporary poetry through voice, film, and print. With over 700 recordings

in multiple languages from more than 40 countries, the Poetic Phonotheque offers a vibrant platform

for interacting with poetic expressions across borders, languages and media.

Through multimedia festivals and other public events, workshops, publications, and an ever-growing

archive, the Phonotheque fosters cross-cultural dialogue and the representation of diverse voices.

This is a living, accessible space where poetry meets community—locally and globally.

Red Door Magazine is not just a quarterly Arts & Culture

publication designed to document and distribute the work

of artists within and for their communities. It also severs as a

local and international platform, linking themes, collaborations,

conversations, and serving also as a space for hybrid

collaboration, such as workshops, festivals, interviews and

other events that can expand, strengthen and promote

independent voices and remarkable projects.

Become a Poet Ambassador:

Bring the Poetic Phonotheque to your city! As a Poet

Ambassador, you’ll represent us internationally, host

events, lead workshops, and connect local voices to a

global stage. Let’s build a worldwide community—one

poet at a time.

You’ll take a FONOTEK phone for recording the voices of

your local community, and have access to the full archive

so you can update these files, organize listening parties,

screenings, and more!

-https://poeticphonotheque.com/poet-ambassadorregistration/

As an Ambassador, you are granted:

- Unrestricted access to the archive—an evolving collection of

literary. multimedia and auditory artifacts, rare recordings in many

languages, and experimental poetic forms of contemporary

poets all around the world.

- The ability to contribute—ensuring that voices, both established

and emergent, enter the continuum of poetic thought. Document

the work of your community wherever you go!

- Curatorial agency—the opportunity to organize researchbased

screenings, salons, and poetic interventions in academic,

private, and public spheres.

- Official recognition—a certificate of ambassadorship, marking

your role in the intellectual and artistic stewardship of this

international archive.

Red Door counts with the constant representation and support

of international correspondents in the European Union, India,

Australia, Latin America, the UK and the US. In expanding its

reach, Red Door also provides the following services:

A GALLERY, Red Door also functions as a gallery and

independent space in Nørrebro, the cultural hub of

Copenhagen, Denmark, where talks, workshops, exhibitions

and performances often fill our calendar, and where you can

find books, magazines and original art.

A PODCAST called the Red Transmissions, where creatives,

activists and cultural organizers share their process, projects

and initiatives.

A MULTIMEDIA ARCHIVE called the Poetic Phonotheque,

which serves as a hybrid, contemporary archive of the voices

of poets in film and audio, traveling to schools, cultural and

educational institutions, and hosting the yearly Nature &

Culture: International Poetry Film Festival.

A PRESS PROJECT called Red Press, which focuses on the

publication and distribution of multilingual / bilingual poetry

books, fiction, theatre, and art books.

THE PARTNERS

Additionally, Red Door collaborates with various

institutions, cultural houses and independent art projects

for the strengthening of our creative community:

Os Pressan:

A non-profit initiative designed to support and promote authors

and to create an inclusive writing community in Iceland.

Cappelens Forslag:

A dream of a bookshop in Oslo, advisors and collaborators,

home of the Poetic Phonotheque in Norway.

Kultivera:

An organization in Sweden, in charge of Tranås Fringe

Festival, operating international cultural programs.

Litteraturcentrum KVU:

An international literary initiative to promote publishers

in Scandinavia.

Write4Word:

A West Wales community organization with a focus on language

arts, headquarters of the Poetic Phonotheque in Wales.



49

ON THE ART OF GIVING BACK:

RED DOOR MAGAZINE

ON PATREON

Founded in New York in 2009 and now based in Copenhagen,

Red Door Magazine is an international Arts & Culture quarterly

dedicated to critical inquiry, artistic practice, and freedom of

expression. With correspondents working across Australia,

Mexico, Colombia, the United States, and Europe, the magazine

has developed as a transnational platform for informed

perspectives, cultural analysis, and creative work. It is a voluntarily

run and freely distributed online publication, complemented by a

limited-edition print release conceived as a collectible object.

Red Door’s activities extend beyond the page. Red Door Gallery,

located in Copenhagen, operates as a physical and conceptual

meeting point for artists, writers, and readers. The gallery hosts

exhibitions, workshops, and public events, and maintains a

focused selection of object books, chapbooks, poetry in multiple

languages, comics, signed prints, and original artworks. It is also

the base for the Red Transmissions Podcast and the Poetic

Phonotheque, projects that further explore language, sound, and

contemporary discourse.

The newly launched Patreon is dedicated exclusively to

supporting Red Door’s editorial, curatorial, and publishing

activities. Contributions directly sustain magazine

production, gallery programming, and the ongoing

development of independent cultural projects. Patronage

ensures continuity, independence, and the ability to operate

outside commercial pressures while remaining accessible

and international in scope.

Participation is an act of shared responsibility toward

independent publishing and cultural work. Through Patreon,

readers and supporters become active contributors to the

conditions that allow Red Door to continue its work.

Further information can be found at :

www.patreon.com/reddoor



51

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