Tom’s legacy is a living story

Tom of Finland Foundation is proud to be a partner in an international research project launching in 2026, led by Dr. Kari Silvola at the University of Oxford. 

Dr. Kari Silvola

The project opens entirely new perspectives on Tom’s cultural heritage and global significance. For the first time, it brings to light his previously unstudied stamp collection and uses it to reconstruct the Cold War–era international network of Tom’s homoerotic mail-order distribution.

This network functioned as a vital alternative infrastructure at a time when Queer life was framed as a political risk and a security threat. By combining archival materials, map-based analysis, and Queer sites of memory in Los Angeles, London, and Helsinki, the research demonstrates how Tom’s art not only transformed visual culture but also created concrete ways to belong, survive, and connect across borders under the pressures of censorship, medical pathologization, criminal law, and intelligence surveillance.

Examining the history of the Cold War feels especially timely today, as geopolitical tensions are once again intensifying and cultural freedom, freedom of expression, and the rights of sexual minorities are under threat in many parts of the world.

The project reminds us that Tom’s legacy is a living and urgent story of courage, resistance, and global Queer connection.

Published: 29th December 2025

Categorised in: Article, History, News