Arturas Leitzinger, a Vilnius resident studying Scandinavian Studies at Vytautas Magnus University, has launched a free magazine on his own initiative, dedicated to queer community. The guy spent more than a year looking for interviewees, conducting interviews and writing texts that focus mainly on queer community in the Baltic States to introduce pop culture and its creators. These stories turned into the magazine "m." - a portrait of contemporary LGBTQ+ pop culture in the Baltic States and a space where it is safe to be yourself.
Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Tartu, Vilnius and Kaunas are just a few of the places in the world that Arturas can call home. After graduating from the American International School in Vilnius, where he also spent two years developing his photography skills, the young man set off on a long-awaited date with the world and its colors. He immortalized some of them in the photos for the magazine "m."
While traveling around the world, Arturas noticed that each country is creating its own unique LGBTQ+ community, which is full of artists, scientists, athletes and representatives of other professions. Wanting to reveal what life in this community looks like in the Baltics, the guy decided to create his first visual story: a free magazine queer for the community "m."
“This magazine is a small piece of LGBTQ+ life in the Baltic States,” begins the story of the magazine’s birth, initiated by its initiator Arturas, who had previously published the comic book “Detective Rita Gulbė”.
Continuing the tradition of LGBTQ+ publications
Arturas says that the idea of releasing queer The magazine dedicated to the community was further strengthened by the deep history of the dissemination of publications dedicated to the Lithuanian and LGBTQ+ community, and in particular the first publication dedicated to homosexual men in independent Lithuania – the newspaper "Naglis".
"I realized that in the future I would like to continue the tradition of publications dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community and create my own authentic platform that would immortalize the contemporary stories of our community," says the editor of "m." magazine about the beginnings of a dream born in early youth.
More than a year ago, Arturas set out to make his dream come true. He set out to discover contemporary LGBTQ+ cultural architects – people shaping the alternative pop culture scene in the Baltics – and began communicating with creators from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Thus, the guy’s dream of releasing queer A community magazine gradually became a reality.
Printed copies of the magazine will be available to readers in the space of the Vilnius Contemporary Art Center (VCA), on the shelves of the Vilnius and Kaunas café chain "Kiras", Vilnius café "Elska Coffee", Kaunas café-bars "Kultūra" and "Godo", and other public places. "m." is a free magazine published as a thank you to the music and its creators in the Baltic States.
A space where you dare to be yourself
The magazine, published in Lithuanian and English, captures a multi-layered portrait of queer artists – a visual narrative masterfully created by engaging interviews with musicians, performers, and performance artists, as well as authentic photographs by the magazine's author.
From the electronic music project "Queer on Acid" to the young boy band "su/mi", Arturas, who interviewed artists, tried from the very beginning to ensure that at least one "queer" creator from each Baltic country would reveal their unique voice in the pages of the magazine.
“I met my first interviewees in the Estonian city of Tartu – it was the group “su/mi”. Three youthful and bold personalities perfectly reflected my creative vision, so I immediately invited them to become part of this project. I am extremely grateful to all the interviewees of the magazine “m.”, “su/mi”, “Queer on Acid”, “Hinsegin kórinn”, Dovile Dobravolskaitė, “Demetra”, Trans Autonomija”, who believed in my idea and dared to be themselves – without you, life in the Baltic countries would be completely different,” Arturas thanks the heroes of the magazine.
Although the guy discovered most of the interviewees for m. magazine while traveling around the Baltics and interacting with local LGBTQ+ community representatives, he admits that one interview stood out completely in its nature and circumstances. It was a conversation with the prestigious Icelandic LGBTQ+ choir "Hinsegin kórinn", which currently consists of as many as 70 "queer" people.
"I had left space in my magazine for a conversation with the LGBTQ+ choir - I just didn't know that I would meet them so far from the shores of the Baltics. We only communicated with them remotely, but I hope to visit them in person soon and, as a thank you, give them a physical copy of the magazine "m."," the author smiles.
However, at the current stage of his life, the artist's attention is focused on higher education, with a diploma from the Bachelor's degree program in Regional Studies: Culture and Language of Scandinavian Countries at VMU on the horizon. Therefore, when asked about the future plans of the magazine "m." - whether we can expect another issue of the magazine to be published - Arturas smiles enigmatically: "I don't plan to, and what will happen later - I don't know. Saying "no" would be too bold."
