Cart
0
your cart
No items found.
Product is not available in this quantity.
We warmed up for our interview by getting some good coffee to go, and heading for a walk in the park. After days of rain and grayness in Berlin, it felt delightful to be outdoors, doing something we realized we both really enjoy doing: walking. Šárka (she/her) is 34 yo, originally from Czech Republic, and has been living in Germany all-in-all for around 8 years. She has recently quit her job, and is currently unemployed, which is a difficult status to hold for someone like her, who is used to having multiple occupations. This “time off” has been dedicated to important work though: her ceramic art, crafting a business plan for her future café and community space, and also expanding the intersectional feminist collective that she founded a couple of years ago–I will expand on these later, hang on tight.
Šárka’s unemployment time has been far from idle, as non-productive times can bring her mixed feelings of guilt. Entrenched beliefs of productivity also influence her experience on self-care. She explained to me that she struggles to do a self-care practice that is only for her own wellbeing–it easily falls into a place of “why wasting my time with it?” That is why creating and painting ceramic pieces work as a middle ground. Ceramics is for her on one hand, a self-care practice, as it allows her to work creatively with her hand, and on the other, it gives her a tangible result in the end. On a personal note, I couldn’t relate more–I think that illustration acts in a similar way to me. Coming from a culture where work defines you, I also have issues doing things just for the sake of doing them.
Moreover, social media makes Šárka feel she doesn’t fit in.
It seems to Šárka that people are doing these practices routinely, almost religiously, and such rigidity doesn’t work for her. Although she sees that these representations of self-care are too perfect, and almost impossible to follow, there is a part of her that sometimes feels guilt for not doing them.
What lies underneath is that these social media representations are usually focused on a cis-white ableist and elitist standards, assuming that if people have enough motivation they can get there.
It’s easier for Šárka to care for others. Between friends, she is known for being the one who hosts, cooks, and always stands for what she promises to do. Being helpful not only makes Šárka feel well, but it has grown into building a community and activism. Inspired by Audre Lorde, mixed with a passion for reading, and a rage against the oppressive system we live in, Šárka created the FLINTA* Bookshelf Collective.
What started as a book club, has become a collective, which organizes community events such as crafternoons, art markets and more. Beyond that, it is a safe space for FLINTA* people, where they belong.
Šárka’s near future smells like freshly brewed coffee and Czech pastries, with the sounds of engaging conversations. That’s because she’s planning to open her own café and communal space in Berlin, so FLINTA* people have a place to go and feel at home. With so much privatization and lack of community spaces, one of her goals is to make the place available as a venue for hosting accessible events, in order to offer people possibilities for being together.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to be a regular in Šárka’s new place and burn patriarchy sip by sip.
