"Just for Holding Hands" is my way to acknowledge mine and other people’s struggles. To make them feel seen and to reach out to people who stay indifferent to other people’s suffering. To explain beyond words what it feels like to receive attention Just for being your true self.
The Story
“Just for Holding Hands” is a spatial installation meant to start conversations that need to happen. The goal of the installation is to explain, without using words, how an act so small and simple as holding someone’s hand can instantly create tension and change the way you experience your surroundings.
The main inspiration for this installation came from a personal experience. About 3 years ago (2021), I was walking in my hometown hand in hand with my partner. After a while, we noticed that a lot of people were staring at us very intensely. Some were pointing at us and laughing, others stopped in the middle of the street looking at us in disbelief. On March 9 (2024), a queer couple got chased and verbally harassed by a group of young adults in the same location that my boyfriend and I had walked holding hands a few years ago.
In a way, this could have been us.
In another way, it was us.
The Process
"Just for Holding Hands" started with simple question:
What is a safe space? Are we referring to a specific location? The space enclosed within four walls? Or is it maybe that little corner your front door creates with the wall when you open it? I became very curious about how space can have many different meanings, mostly defined by non-architectural qualities. Space is an experience; it’s not about the specific planning of a room. It’s about what feelings are evoked and experienced in that location.
Trying to answer what a safe space is, it was only natural for me to explore what un-safety in space looks and feels like. For this research, I visited 13 different locations in the cities of Groningen (NL) and Thessaloniki (GR). By choosing a mixture of safe and unsafe environments, I gave myself 10 minutes to crochet intuitively and let my hands translate the feeling I was getting from my surroundings. With every sound out of the ordinary, I would instinctively turn. With every person or group of people walking close to me, I felt more vulnerable. The lighting and temperature of each location also influenced what my hands were doing.
The Trigger
On the 9th of March (2024), a young queer couple was chased and
verbally harassed by a group of young people in a central location in Thessaloniki, Greece—my hometown. I immediately remembered myself and my boyfriend walking hand in hand in the same place a few years ago. I remembered all those faces looking at us in disbelief. I remember people pointing at us and laughing. People stopping in the middle of the street and staring at us with hate. I remember feeling like I was committing some kind of crime just for holding my partner’s hand. Just for showing affection to him. Just for being myself and not hiding.
I wish I could explain to people how all of this felt. How it felt to receive all this attention for doing something so usual. I realized that just because I feel comfortable living in my truth, it doesn’t mean that other people have the same experience as me. I realized that some people still can’t be themselves. People still have to struggle on a daily basis. I wanted to find a way to get this message through to others without using words.
About NĂ©vma
Nikos Karpouzas, the designer behind NĂ©vma, is a Greek designer who has a passion for pushing boundaries and working with vulnerable and current topics. He uses his own experiences to tell stories and let others into his world through installations. Nikos often opts for a poetic approach to make challenging themes easier to "touch" upon
