June marks Pride Month, where the LGBTQIA+ community celebrates in vibrant marches and the spotlight falls on issues of equality.
Pride means having the courage to be yourself. It's an understanding that hard battles have been fought, and it’s a promise to keep fighting for those that are still striving for equality and acceptance. There are many grassroots organizations that are leading the way to improve support for the LGBTQIA+ community and to continue to fight for the equality of rights across society. Though we’re unable to list all these wonderful organizations here, these few that we’ve highlighted have extensive resource pages and links to connect you with the wider community.
London LGBTQ+ Community Centre is a non-profit working towards creating a safe space for the community, somewhere that people can meet, socialise and campaign from as well as providing training opportunities through their cafe. The team is in the process of looking for a physical space; follow the link to find out more about the current status of the project.
Located in one of the thoroughfares from St Pancras to Bloomsbury, Gay’s The Word is London’s go to bookstore for all LGBTQIA+ fiction, non-fiction, poetry and other works. They have an extensive collection of new and second hand, as well as providing a safe venue for community action and groups. Through their Community page you can find an extensive list of resources and support.
Gendered Intelligence is a trans-led charity working to improve the lives of trans people and to increase understanding and awareness of gender diversity. They provide educational services to schools and institutes, support for families and young trans, non-binary and gender diverse people and links to their campaigns for autonomy and equality.
What does Pride mean for you?
Art in the Age of Now
We met face to face for the first time in 8 months and, funnily enough, the last time we did we were also going to an art exhibition.
As life slowly returns to normal Fulham Town Hall, a Victorian Grade II listed building, opened its doors for the first time in a decade to play host to an extraordinary programme of installations, guest exhibitions, live performance art, music, talks, readings and screenings.
The venue itself is an embodiment of local history and community, having played host to countless marriages, christenings and performances from legendary bands such as The Clash. It was also an opportunity to see many of the building’s beautiful original fittings, such as its elegant architecture and decorative features, stained glass roof lights, wrought iron balustrades and art deco lighting, before it gets converted into a hotel and entertainment space.
The exhibition is divided across the sprawling 52,000 square feet and takes viewers on a journey through some amazing rooms including a beautiful grand ballroom, a courtroom in the round with original stained-glass windows and tiered seating, cells complete with the original bars from their time as holding chambers and basement vaults. Many of the works have been produced in isolation during lockdown and are exhibited for the first time. Artists were given free reign, not just for their art to occupy a room and to be on the walls but for them to be on the walls. And ceilings, and the floors, and the staircases. It felt like being in an artistic squat.
There is visible deterioration seen through the cracks of decay and peeling wallpaper, but that only adds to the building’s character. There were many pieces of art that made our eyes light up in wonder, but here are a few special mentions to those artists that made us want to take home their work or allowed us to have deeper conversations around their work.
The first artist was Ariadne Dane with their AR work, the only artist that encouraged the use of an additional app, Artivive App, to deliver the new layers of visual interest and meaning to physical artwork. It was the first time that we had seen AR incorporated into an art exhibition like this. Coupled with the additional soundscape for each piece, which can be heard through the app, placed Dane’s work firmly on this list.
Joe Rush, known for his mechanical sculptures, takes over the ballroom and adjacent rooms. Repurposing discarded tools and devices, Rush weaves new stories from the metal to evoke a sense of history and placement. We both love Rush’s sculptures crafted from repurposed drills, carburettors and other detritus. Very Tim Burton-esque mixed in with cyberpunk and a healthy dose of Mad Max.
Taking over the old medical wing of the town hall ‘Wrestling Demons’ is a collaborative project from 60 top artists overseen by Alex Fatho-Bland, exploring our relationship and attitudes towards mental health. The paintings and sculptures are all inspired by conversations between the artists involved and those who work in the hospitality industry. The different experiences and mediums create an eye catching and thought provoking walkthrough of how we see and treat mental health.
Charlotte Colbert ‘Mastectomy Mameria’ stands alone in the former wide ornate assembly room. The completely white sculpture is a mass of breasts that on closer inspection reveals some nipples are missing, sewn up as after a mastectomy. It makes for a striking and contrasting image.
We were blown away with how much there was to see, there was no way that one could have predicted how much time we would have spent there. There is nothing more that we would love more than to attend these types of exhibition/takeover styles, but sadly this kind of space and opportunities are fairly rare.
Get Crafty
It’s been a busy month! While we’re still working our way through our collaborative makes we’ve also been working on some solo projects. This month was a time for revisiting! Check out Kitty’s Adrienne Blouse restyle and Lyndsey’s variation of the Winslow Culottes.
Off the Shelf
Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheel’s Queer: A Graphic History is an introduction into Queer theory and its history, providing a general overview. Much of the content is sourced from academic works and, while efforts have been made to simplify some of the density of language, it’s still a book to take some time on. There’s also a fantastic list of sources at the back of the book for further reading if you want to explore anything the book has mentioned in more depth.
Cool Links
Noteworthy playlist - most should be from the LGBTQIA + but if not then that is OK too
Progressive Shopper - A platform that empowers consumers to shop their values by providing current data on a brand’s political affiliations, including any issues that they may also support.
FNFD - Australia Fashion Week highlights the talent of the First Nation’s Peoples with these exclusive runways of 13 Indigenous artists and 7 Indigenous designers.
LGBTQ+ Reads - A list of LGBTQ+ reads for every month
Outro
All being well we’ll have our second vaccine this month! Though we’ll still be wearing masks and abiding social distance recommendations it will provide some comfort to us. We’ve plans to explore a bit more and have booked a slot over at the Garden Museum to check out their Constance Spry exhibition.