In Time

I’ve spent years using storytelling as a tool for social impact and narrative change, working globally as a human rights strategist. I’ve collected oral histories across six continents on themes including gender-based violence, displacement, serious illness, and histories of social and political movements.

As a doula, I’ve also used storytelling to help individuals and families navigate grief and the end of life, often through oral histories and legacy projects that honor and preserve memory.

In Time is shaped by these experiences, as well as by my lived identity as a lesbian who deeply values intergenerational connection and the importance of listening to and learning from our foremothers.

To view an example of previous oral history work I’ve conducted, visit the LGBTQ+ Aging Worldwide project, a collaboration with SAGE.

Lesbians* aged 50 and over are warmly encouraged to participate. Those coming from countries in the Global South are particularly encouraged to reach out.

** For the purpose of this project, the term “lesbian” is used inclusively to embrace a wide range of identities, including queer and bisexual individuals, cisgender, transgender, and nonbinary people who have emotional, romantic, or sexual relationships with women.

Across the globe, the lives and contributions of lesbians have been overlooked or erased—not only by mainstream society, but often within broader LGBTQ+ historical narratives as well.

Yet lesbian elders are guardians of cultural memory. Many were early architects of queer and feminist movements, building collective structures for care, safety, and liberation when mainstream institutions offered none. They organized around housing justice, reproductive rights, anti-racist solidarity, HIV/AIDS caregiving, and anti-violence efforts. They created zines, bookstores, communes, and crisis hotlines. Often with limited resources and little recognition, they sustained entire communities.

As this generation of lesbian elders ages, their stories are at risk of being lost. In Time responds to this urgency through recorded interviews, written transcripts, and community engagement. In Time affirms lesbian elders as stewards of vital knowledge, placing their lived experiences at the heart of a more complete and inclusive understanding of our shared human history.

While LGBTQ+ oral history has gained momentum in recent years, many projects have focused on prominent public figures or have been limited by national or regional scopes. Initiatives such as the Lesbian Herstory Archives, the HIV/AIDS Caregivers Oral History Project, and the Invisible Histories Project in the American South, for example, have made vital contributions by documenting community histories of LGBTQ+ individuals, primarily within the United States. 

In Time builds on this foundational work but takes a deliberately globalist approach. It rejects the notion that queerness, and lesbian identity in particular, can be confined to national narratives. By gathering stories from lesbian elders across cultural, linguistic, political, and geographic contexts, the project highlights how lesbian lives are connected globally through shared experiences of resistance, kinship, love, discrimination, and belonging.

The In Time archive will be shared here in 2027.

Following its release, selected clips from the interviews will be shared across various social media platforms to broaden access and increase viewership.

We are also developing partnerships with cultural institutions to present this material through exhibitions and other collaborative initiatives, supporting wider public engagement and long-term accessibility.