Queering The Map
Serena Ajbani - Director, Editor // Brit Fryer - Producer // Lucas LaRochelle - Executive Producer // ITVS - Co-producer
In May 2017, Montreal-based designer Lucas LaRochelle posted an empty map on the internet and invited members of the LGBTQ+ community to drop a pin anywhere in the world they had experienced something queer. By 2018, “Queering the Map” had gone viral, regions of its pastel interface engulfed completely by little black pins. Each pin represents a moment, describing something as gut wrenching as coming out to an unsupportive family, as joyful as experiencing lactation for the first time, or as mundane as listening to a lover play the piano. First kisses, lost loves, dreams for the future, reflections on the past—the map contains thousands of queer experiences that are at once distinct and universal. Today, “Queering the Map” holds over 127,000 stories of queer existence and resistance, on every continent and in 24 languages, serving as a chronicle of queer heartbreak, joy, and resilience.
Jose Richard Aviles takes viewers on a public transportation tour of Los Angeles in the Pilot episode of Queering The Map
A poet, choreographer, and urban planner, Jose Richard Aviles dances through memories at bus stops across LA
In documentary form, Queering The Map is an ITVS-funded short series exploring the intersections of place, memory and community. Episodes will take place in Los Angeles, Halifax, and Durham. The series will be distributed digitally through a public television network in June 2025.