Tusen bilder, tusen ord. Ett socialt kreativitetsprojekt med unga hbtq-personer.
The aim of the essay is to explore how so called ?safe spaces? are built, and the part that creativity can play in this construction. The essay also explores the duality of idea-based social work that at the same time strives to support vulnerable groups and strives to make social and political changes. The essay has its empirical base in the RFSL Ungdom project ?Tusen bilder, tusen ord? (A thousand pictures, a thousand words). RFSL Ungdom is the Swedish youth organization for homosexual, bisexual and transgender rights. The object of ?Tusen bilder, tusen ord? is to increase psychological well-being amongst queer youth under the age of 26 by providing a safe space where they can meet, and by encouraging their creative expressions in various workshops which are led by queer-identified artists. The essay is conducted through semi-structural interviews with participants in the project, and through participating observations of some of the workshops. Its theoretical base is previous research in the concept of safe spaces, strategies of resistance, and creativity. The result shows that the safe space ?Tusen bilder, tusen ord? is constructed in various ways, for example identification with each other and a ?queer identity? and through the trust that participants in the project felt towards the organization RFSL Ungdom. The creative expressions established an air of openness and understanding in the group, and also served as ways to reshape and transform the heteronormative surroundings, through the project's art-exhibition, and through the inner queer fantasy space bricolage.