tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53452111106001054392024-03-12T23:03:09.570-07:00towards queerBlog to document my AHRC-funded PhD in Museum Studies. My research challenges the lack of visibility of queer identities in historic houses (specifically National Trust houses). I also blog about more general museums and heritage issues as well as queer, feminist and LGBT matters. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-80742273579162237602018-06-10T17:07:00.002-07:002018-06-11T01:27:04.864-07:00An exhibition of an exhibition: 1948 La Biennale di Peggy Guggenheim<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieO3Gh84PSkWir4_C27Q3WgNjRxEtmPq-FJzci8KG7ADa6xwMTvAyoIUY_oGEKQldRkLlYMyx8s5b2iYIcSmhWJd4zlrfSeqUJ8oVx-eb8gbFZq4Dm_WH7xLQIlXGH8X5W5s_uZikYfOsw/s1600/peggy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1014" data-original-width="864" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieO3Gh84PSkWir4_C27Q3WgNjRxEtmPq-FJzci8KG7ADa6xwMTvAyoIUY_oGEKQldRkLlYMyx8s5b2iYIcSmhWJd4zlrfSeqUJ8oVx-eb8gbFZq4Dm_WH7xLQIlXGH8X5W5s_uZikYfOsw/s400/peggy.png" width="340" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 1948 Peggy Guggenheim’s collection was
exhibited at the 24</span><sup style="font-family: Calibri;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Venice Biennale in the Pavilion of Greece. To
mark the 70</span><sup style="font-family: Calibri;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> anniversary of the exhibition, </span><i style="font-family: Calibri;">1948 La Biennale di Peggy Guggenheim</i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> in the Project Rooms at the
Guggenheim, Venice, revisits the career-defining Pavilion display; its origins,
construction and curation. Billed as ‘an homage’, the exhibition does not
attempt to further examine the artworks that featured in the original, but
rather gives an inside look into the behind the scenes work that led to the
first postwar display of a modern art collection in Italy following 20 years of
dictatorial regime.</span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern
art museum l<o:p></o:p></span><span style="text-align: center;">ocated on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro district of Venice. The
18</span><sup style="text-align: center;">th </sup><span style="text-align: center;">century former palace was Peggy Guggenheim’s home for thirty
years, and now holds a rich collection of works by Italian Futurists and
American Modernists, and is one of the most visited sites in Venice.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7D-Z-knbQV3mYohViLEf7jeaj9DurD6lXKDXV9CjIzLVqVsl9eHANCV_-L-jOofgyaC56FlwrTpi1yeZXsh3WeFq7VZCvKetvpGtI7Z5QxxxhM-lfbTKxG-PxGHRWSD7LnLk0A0Crfv3p/s1600/IMG_7809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7D-Z-knbQV3mYohViLEf7jeaj9DurD6lXKDXV9CjIzLVqVsl9eHANCV_-L-jOofgyaC56FlwrTpi1yeZXsh3WeFq7VZCvKetvpGtI7Z5QxxxhM-lfbTKxG-PxGHRWSD7LnLk0A0Crfv3p/s640/IMG_7809.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Marguerite “Peggy” Guggenheim, born in 1898
to the wealthy Guggenheim family and daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim who died
aboard the Titanic, was a socialite and art collector with as rich an appetite
for men and dogs as for building a world class collection of modern art. Her
desire for collecting was not quelled during World War II, during which she
aspired to collect a painting a day. Her 1948 exhibition, at the first Venice
Biennale for six years, was notable both for being the first since the interruption
caused by the war, and for its bold display of groundbreaking modern art. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1948 La Biennale di Peggy Guggenheim </i>aims
to cast an eye at this remarkable moment in time and to make sense of the
eccentric Peggy Guggenheim’s singular vision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NmwGbvsTIvHLm9GGAbODTNcSZ60_OdM7mJLDjvXjiebtCErnMTlXkNA8CNqHuEbRf5aRM0nLViHqOqRO6qxq9ZraxHIMRZyhvvdlOoOOpTt9Ynt0Ex0GYmKRTmMuBpep0sgdgiuz8kYG/s1600/IMG_7805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NmwGbvsTIvHLm9GGAbODTNcSZ60_OdM7mJLDjvXjiebtCErnMTlXkNA8CNqHuEbRf5aRM0nLViHqOqRO6qxq9ZraxHIMRZyhvvdlOoOOpTt9Ynt0Ex0GYmKRTmMuBpep0sgdgiuz8kYG/s400/IMG_7805.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Above the door entering the exhibition hangs
a recreation of the triangular sign that originally hung above the porticoes of
the Greek Pavilion in 1948. It reads ‘Collezione Peggy Guggenheim’ and the
nostalgic echoes continue in the first of two modestly sized rooms, with a full
wall covered with a blown up black and white photograph of one of the
exhibition walls. In the centre of the room is a three dimensional model of the
pavilion installation created by Ivan Simonato based on designs by </span><span style="background: white; color: #2b292b;">Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa, who
collaborated with the Biennale from 1948 to 1972. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: #2b292b;">The
model provides instant orientation for the visitor, by making the exhibition
tangible through its incredible detail, including the intricately recreated
herringbone floor and inclusion of miniature sculptures, one of which (Alexander
Calder’s </span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Arc
of Petals</span></i><span style="background: white; color: black;">, 1941</span><span style="background: white; color: #2b292b;">)
visitors to the permanent collection will have already seen in person, and
another of which hangs in the place it would have been positioned on the giant
wall photograph.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Mt3Xra3fx7naQDlxUHvMwDkrSIp8ZPsaGGKuVVww0vF4cbqG5s_n6OUbNXbxYZ8bYwl7zxLK4HUeaT8sVIS8SiOuToeKRy4pI0mVCEdhBjkG6R3oDwqtT-huzvZtZlQWBDHq3VeeSqe1/s1600/IMG_7794.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Mt3Xra3fx7naQDlxUHvMwDkrSIp8ZPsaGGKuVVww0vF4cbqG5s_n6OUbNXbxYZ8bYwl7zxLK4HUeaT8sVIS8SiOuToeKRy4pI0mVCEdhBjkG6R3oDwqtT-huzvZtZlQWBDHq3VeeSqe1/s400/IMG_7794.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In the second and final room of the
exhibition, curator </span><span style="background: white; color: #2b292b;">Gražina Subelytė</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">makes use of archival material to give context to the 1948 display,
using images from the exhibition and its installation, correspondence and
newspaper cuttings. While the first room is an installation in itself, the
second room visually outlines the exhibition’s creation. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">An exhibition about an exhibition has
potential to be indulgent, produced only with an audience of curators in mind.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1948
La Biennale di Peggy Guggenheim </i>avoids this by the playful curation of the
first room, which neatly sets the scene for an audience who is not expected to
arrive with any foreknowledge. The miniature exhibition recreation serves as an
anchor for the narrative flow, as all of the works in the first room are
mirroring it in some way, while photographs in the second room reference it,
and show the room in various states of construction, which the audience can
locate on the model as they leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7H9VBzJzz80eM6KXu4EwuD0dFCKr9E5XWpiFtQFky26EfaHnc_rTRAGgM7WqQZ5AmfxkglMwacylHRwIbZUTi5F7ky02GyyzzyNP2jRqUaGb66D4pNbf7dhQrktP88ZA_g7IwCN_1iWMT/s1600/IMG_7796.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7H9VBzJzz80eM6KXu4EwuD0dFCKr9E5XWpiFtQFky26EfaHnc_rTRAGgM7WqQZ5AmfxkglMwacylHRwIbZUTi5F7ky02GyyzzyNP2jRqUaGb66D4pNbf7dhQrktP88ZA_g7IwCN_1iWMT/s400/IMG_7796.jpg" width="300" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">While visually the audience is taken back to
1948, the exhibition perhaps lacks in giving sufficient wider context of the
world that the Greek Pavilion exhibition took place in. Greece was in the midst
of a bloody civil war, and fascist dictator and former Italian Prime Minister
Mussolini had been dead for just three short years. The impact of Peggy
Guggenheim’s diverse and forward-looking collection being a centrepiece of the
Biennale that year is lessened when removed from its context. Further
exploration of world events beyond the exhibition and its pavilion could have
strengthened the narrative and provided further insight into Peggy’s character.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">While this meta-exhibition sets out to pay
tribute to a game-changing exhibition of modern art, like the rest of the
museum <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1948 La Biennale di Peggy
Guggenheim</i> feels more like an homage to Peggy Guggenheim herself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The exhibition runs until </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b292b;">November 25, 2018.</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-89353722988985405462017-12-13T05:23:00.000-08:002017-12-13T05:23:33.414-08:00Some thoughts about diversity agendas in museumshello all!<br />
<br />
A few updates:<br />
<ul>
<li>I'm currently working on some corrections for a chapter for a book called <i>Museums and Activism</i>, edited by Richard Sandell and Robert Janes. I'm so excited to be part of this, and have really enjoyed writing about Sutton House outside the context/confines of a thesis. </li>
<li>I'm also working on some illustrations relating to the history of Sutton House. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but I'm feeling a self published book or a zine coming on... I might share some of those on this blog soon. </li>
<li>Most significantly, I'm delighted to have been appointed as a part time Lecturer for the Museums and Galleries in Education MA at the UCL Institute of Education. It's the MA I did in 2010-2012 and the department within which I've been doing my PhD, so it's really great to have the opportunity to contribute to a department that has been so supportive, inspiring and rewarding. I will start in the new year, and Sutton House have been super accommodating, so I will be continuing my work there too. </li>
</ul>
For my interview I was asked to give a presentation about diversity in museums and galleries. It ended up, like a lot of my writing, more of a polemic than I had intended. I thought I'd share some of the thoughts I raised in my presentation here (in more form) as I thought it might be of interest to some.<br />
<br />
Speaking about diversity in museums, you have to start with the staff. Museum Studies MAs and other post graduate qualifications are inherently a barrier. Increasingly museum jobs are requiring a postgraduate qualification, or otherwise a lot of experience which usually means unpaid work. This is, of course, a class barrier, which in turn is a barrier for people of colour, people with disabilities and a large portion of the LGBTQ community. Museum Studies MAs are unsurprisingly reflective of the wider heritage sector and the education sector in that it comprises mostly white, middle class women.<br />
<br />
Andrea Fraser notes that the majority of people of colour working in museums (in the US) are security staff or catering staff, and do not hold the more “professionalised” roles related to curation, collection care/conservation or education. This is also reflective of UK museums as well. I would urge museum professionals recruiting staff to consider whether or not a post graduate qualification genuinely is essential, and I imagine the answer is almost always no. A more diverse workforce might be built if transferable skills from other jobs are considered as highly as post graduate qualifications or masses of voluntary experience within museums. Having time and capacity to volunteer is a huge privilege, and requires that candidates have sufficient savings or financial support to be able to do it.<br />
<br />
I also think we need to be wary about the overuse or rather misuse of the word diversity. And more specifically we should be wary of assuming there’s a commonly understood definition. I think that in museums, diversity is usually a lazy shorthand for people of colour. This often reductive term neglects other protected characteristics and issues of class, and access in terms of disability and mental health. It also often fails to address intersectional identities: some trans women are Muslim, some black people are disabled, some autistic people are refugees etc etc etc.<br />
<br />
The first obstacle in addressing the diversity problems in museums is that we all need to start acknowledging our privileges more. People often don’t like to be called out on their privilege or their complicity with ableism, heteronormativity and white supremacy. Linked to this, it is often difficult to articulate to people with privilege, what it’s like to be oppressed, marginalised, or invisible- when we introduced gender neutral toilets at Sutton House for example, some people couldn’t understand why it was worth doing. We had a young trans teenager who visited who, along with their mother, told us it was great to find somewhere where they felt safe and welcome. Cis people who have never felt vulnerable in a public toilet, or had to go without using a toilet in a public space because there was no where to accommodate them, might not be able to see why such a small change can be such a crucial one. I myself have had experiences where I’ve been reminded of my blindness to barriers faced by other marginalised people. During my exhibition <i>126</i>, some disabled participants were rightly disappointed that they had contributed to the exhibition, but that it would be exhibited in a place inaccessible by wheelchair. I felt bad, but it wasn’t about me, we have to listen, get over our own bruised ego, and make changes to our behaviour.<br />
<br />
Museums, and their staff, need to be good allies. Saying ‘we welcome all’ is not being an ally, what are you doing about it? How are you reducing the barriers faced by people of colour, who only see white faces in the museum? How are you making concessions in pay for entry museums for local working class visitors who can’t otherwise afford the fee? How are you challenging heteronormativity in depictions, for example, of the home and family in historic house museums? How are you making school workshops engaging and accessible for children with autism or other specific educational needs? How are you developing alternatives to audio tours for deaf people?<br />
<br />
The Morris Hargreaves McIntyre ‘spectrum of audience engagement’ (<a href="http://visitors.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/VSG2015_Workshop_AndrewMcIntyre_Spectrum_of_audiences_engagement.pdf" target="_blank">see page 19 here</a>), which is something I return to regularly is a good measuring tool for museums, or an aid for museum studies students to assess museums they encounter: where do they fit, where are they aiming for? My aspiration is always to achieve the final column: museum as a platform for ideas, as an “egalitarian facilitator”. A key word there is Safe Space, it’s not only about producing programming and exhibitions to appeal to marginalised groups, but to steer a cultural change that makes museums a space of an exchange of ideas and expertise between visitors and so-called “experts”.<br />
<br />
Likewise, establishing trust with communities as an “egalitarian facilitator” means that marginalised communities are also more likely to visit and engage outside of programmes directly marketed towards them. If you invest time and resources into a community, that community are more likely to feel welcome, and that the museum is a space for them. <i>Sutton House Queered</i>, the year long LGBTQ programme of events and exhibitions at Sutton House is, I’m pleased (and a bit smug to say) a good example of this. At the beginning of the project we set out to make Sutton House a safe and welcoming place for the LGBTQ community, for this year and beyond. We were approached by the Fringe Queer Film Festival to host one of their biggest events, a screening of the film <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/43a57j/out-of-this-world-i-d-meets-mykki-blanco" target="_blank">Out of this world</a> and a Q&A with Mykki Blanco. They approached us based on the reputation we have established over the year, the curator of the festival had been to a few of our events and knew that we were serious, and not taking a tokenistic approach to our LGBTQ engagement. This impact, and the relationships built on the back of it, influences the legacy of such projects once key milestone anniversaries, such as the 50 year anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, have ended.<br />
<br />
Exhibitions that are built for, with and by communities, is an ethos I bang on about quite regularly. This often means conceding that museums professionals aren’t the experts, and that unsettles a culture of gate keeping and ivory tower syndrome, which museums are still often regarded as being inflicted with.<br />
<br />
I attended the 13th LGBTQ History and Archives conference at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) a few weekends ago. As usual it was great. Steven Dryden who was one of the curators of the British Library exhibition <i>Gay UK: Love, Law and Legacy</i>, told us that they welcomed 88,502 visitors over three months, this was 111% over target, the second most visited exhibition of the year, 6th best attended in the space- most of which had a much longer run time. These are the sorts of figures that make the museum big wigs who might question the desire for such exhibitions sit up and take notice. This has given the newly formed British Library LGBTQ network extra mileage and perhaps lobbying leverage to make demands for further work, and they have created new guidelines to say that every exhibition must have an element relating to LGBTQ history, be it an object, some interpretation, an online blog post etc. This in turn has implications for future collection building too.
<br />
<br />
We must also start to challenge the assumption of a shared understanding of what is ‘important’, particularly in regards to historic houses and other heritage sites. They are usually deemed heritage sites because they are considered ‘important’. But what does important mean? Usually it means related to the monarchy, an aristocratic family or a well known successful figure, or of architectural significance. If we reframe what constitutes “importance” in public history, we open up a wider and more exciting variety of spaces. Sutton House was dismissed by architectural historian James Lees-Milne, whose influence likely saw it sit in a state of decay for almost 50 years. ‘No more important’ than any other house he wrote in his diaries. Its true importance came to be in its potential, rather than its past, its potential for a community space for the people of Hackney. The <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/birmingham-back-to-backs" target="_blank">Birmingham Back to Backs</a> are another great example. They were far from unique, thousands were built in inner city areas to accommodate for a burgeoning population growth in industrial areas. These homes were occupied by normal working people, a vision of history much more relatable to most visitors and potential visitors than the grand crumbling piles owned by Lord and Lady Upperclass.<br />
<br />
The conference at the LMA was about oral histories, and was called ‘Talking Back’, a title inspired by bell hooks, who was raised to believe that to talk back was to challenge or stand up to an authority figure. This idea lends itself naturally to oral histories, but also, I’d argue, to museums in general. If we think of the museum as the authority figure, then people within marginalised communities must ‘talk back’ to be heard, seen and recognised. Bell hooks said: ‘It is in the act of speech, of “talking back”, that is no mere gesture of empty words, that it is the expression of our movement from object to subject- the liberated voice’. It’s our responsibility, as people in the museum sector, not to idly wait until the oppressed, forgotten and ignored ‘talk back’ to us, but to actively invite them to do so and to listen to them.<br />
<br />
(Apologies these are only half-formed thoughts, and no doubt full of typos, but that’s part of the charm of blogging... isn't it?)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-22671045028323688352017-11-08T14:17:00.000-08:002017-11-09T04:39:40.491-08:00Gunnersbury Park and a very unassuming frock<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHWICiVPdCAzu7cO02TneE8MNyMRjgbNH1QHyICK_rsUnX_OvQUU-2EPt1_BoP3raXKNkdw0H4gNktHg5ibsWaZ4gz4dxeSepnuATTMaCXQopnJOAN608KpwWIG5ul9XWMdNaJLSepZqlB/s1600/dress+gunnersbury.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1560" data-original-width="1184" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHWICiVPdCAzu7cO02TneE8MNyMRjgbNH1QHyICK_rsUnX_OvQUU-2EPt1_BoP3raXKNkdw0H4gNktHg5ibsWaZ4gz4dxeSepnuATTMaCXQopnJOAN608KpwWIG5ul9XWMdNaJLSepZqlB/s640/dress+gunnersbury.jpg" width="484" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At Sutton House I run a community group called the <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sutton-house-and-breakers-yard/profiles/meet-margaret-koroidovi" target="_blank">Recycled Teenagers</a>. They're a group of over 55s, who started off as a short term project around 20 years ago documenting the experiences of Caribbean women living in Hackney. The remit of the group has since expanded, and anyone over 55 is welcome. The group largely comprises people in their 70s and 80s. We meet three terms a year for and for about 8 weeks each term we meet every Friday afternoon, and take part in activities such as dancing, singing, working with artists, life drawing, creative writing and loads more.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivv9-ZFBlmj4x9MBGzr9LhYKPmtpePzaTYFeq30-aJ2GMybDMc0Y3hvhMw0dpR2tHZP7hPHrOG2fuPLoHFGTLpKBQA3wE9_UMWOREwwQ3qgu5H-dMwiwdVprwQVay9oaYM0fK0ulz5tQzH/s1600/IMG_3933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivv9-ZFBlmj4x9MBGzr9LhYKPmtpePzaTYFeq30-aJ2GMybDMc0Y3hvhMw0dpR2tHZP7hPHrOG2fuPLoHFGTLpKBQA3wE9_UMWOREwwQ3qgu5H-dMwiwdVprwQVay9oaYM0fK0ulz5tQzH/s400/IMG_3933.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Small Mansion, Gunnersbury park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last week, with the help of one of our volunteers, Sharon, I took the group across London on a trip to Gunnersbury Park, which is jointly owned by Ealing and Hounslow councils. I chose Gunnersbury Park partly because I've visited before and thought the Recycled Teenagers would enjoy it, and partly because my very close friend, who I met on the Museums and Galleries in Education MA, Ellie works there. She has a very similar role to me, and very kindly said we could come and spend the day.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ellie, expertly demonstrating how to wash clothes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We split the group in half, and took part in two activities, one was wandering around the park and hearing about the history and the community projects that they do at Gunnersbury, and the other was an object handling and reminiscence session led by Ellie, and Sarah Gudgeon.<br />
<br />
The museum is currently closed for <a href="http://www.visitgunnersbury.org/the-transformation/" target="_blank">renovation</a>, due to be re-opened in 2018, so the bulk of learning and community stuff happens in the Small Mansion next door at the moment. Gunnersbury House, which sits in the middle of the park was built in the late Georgian period and later bought by the Rothschilds. The house and land was sold in the 1920s on the condition that it was to be open to all as a place of leisure.<br />
<br />
In the handling/reminiscence session, we learnt about the roles and life of the domestic staff in the house in Victorian times. We also handled a variety of objects from the collection, and reproduction objects, on the theme of domestic service, including carbolic soap, a bed warming pan, irons, a variety of brushes and polishes, a jelly mould, and a load more. A lot of them were unfamiliar to me (especially the wooden butter shapers!) but were very familiar to the Recycled Teenagers, for whom they weren't just historic artefacts, but objects from their past. Led by Ellie and Sarah, we discussed the objects and they all reminisced about old jobs they used to have.<br />
<br />
The item we spoke about most, both during the workshop, and afterwards, was a beautiful dress that Ellie showed us at the beginning. When I first saw it, I thought it was kind of underwhelming, but hearing the story about it changed my mind, and it really resonated with many of the Recycled Teenagers.<br />
<br />
It's a plain lavender print work dress, it's hand sewn and would have belonged to a maid. It was donated to the museum in 1954 by a Miss Lilian Bottle, and came with a scrap of paper saying 'working frock, belonged to aunt, died, 1891'. It's dated as circa 1890 on the museum catalogue, but we can safely assume it was from earlier than that (thanks to Ellie for providing me more info about the dress!). That is all that is known about the dress. The stitching is so generous and beautiful, this was likely worn by a more high ranking maid who was 'on show' more. There are a few light stains on the dress, most probably because such dresses would have been passed down generations. Ellie told us that in spite of its humble and unassuming appearance, this dress is one of the most valuable items in the collection. The reason for this, is because most Victorian maid's dresses would have been passed down until they fell to pieces, or were beyond repair, at which point they would have been cut into rags and used as cloths for cleaning. That one of these has survived, been looked after by its owner, and then cared for by a museum, is really remarkable.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZNOI0oUGhRcKDJzpnCSFbcSwvNDm2XHXfjWhAysLDXhj_bCBSQjrXi9n7JQwacgryd_57oAl6-2aaq7g1DXpIaOdWi467BwgHde4dBd_bHdQ5gFw8VR3JQT1Tn6RbsBOBek5L8EqGfYF/s1600/IMG_3943.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1152" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZNOI0oUGhRcKDJzpnCSFbcSwvNDm2XHXfjWhAysLDXhj_bCBSQjrXi9n7JQwacgryd_57oAl6-2aaq7g1DXpIaOdWi467BwgHde4dBd_bHdQ5gFw8VR3JQT1Tn6RbsBOBek5L8EqGfYF/s400/IMG_3943.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
The next time I saw the Recycled Teenagers, we spoke about the workshop again. Everybody was still talking about the dress. I said that I thought it was exciting that the dress was the most valuable item in the collection because - and Joan, one of the Recycled Teenagers, finished my thought for me - 'it belonged to a normal woman'. It was such a lovely and rare treat to see an item that belonged to an everyday working woman, and to see it being revered, and spoken about with such tenderness and import. It was a lovely moment to see how this had resonated with a group of working class women from Hackney, who through a reminiscence session, had learned they had much in common with the kind of woman who might have worn this dress. I'm so excited to see how the dress is put to use once the museum transformation is complete, and I can't wait to revisit it. Thanks to Ellie, Sarah and Sharon for hosting such an inspiring day!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-78359248917385487652017-11-06T14:18:00.001-08:002017-11-06T14:18:54.047-08:00May Morris: Art & Life (& Lesbian Erasure.... again)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDgnZXmFqenNTegnGMUQ3_R9pg3VgiGWW_-K00Hfaultc04L6cjoRKrz3K3GllvLabFM0DNdEQU8GTSCS4aLWLcOFigPE7C9bfBYwPqZf7QGcFuWDoGUjgM60m6BthhyphenhyphenqH0hK7BMBXqiz/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1111" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDgnZXmFqenNTegnGMUQ3_R9pg3VgiGWW_-K00Hfaultc04L6cjoRKrz3K3GllvLabFM0DNdEQU8GTSCS4aLWLcOFigPE7C9bfBYwPqZf7QGcFuWDoGUjgM60m6BthhyphenhyphenqH0hK7BMBXqiz/s640/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="444" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favourite historic butch, Mary Lobb</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I seem to start every blog post with an apology for how long it's been since I last blogged, so I won't with this one. But I will try to blog more regularly now that my thesis is out of the way. I want to post about some of the work I've been doing at Sutton House recently, a recent visit to Gunnersbury Park and some amazing interpretation at Nunnington Hall. But in the mean time, I want to address a glaring problem with the <i>May Morris: Art and Life </i>exhibition (on until Jan 28th 2018) at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow.<br />
<br />
It is, of course, really lovely. Morris' talents have long been in the shadow of her father, so it's no wonder that such a comprehensive overview of her design and craftswomanship is so beautiful to behold. The problem I have with it is, perhaps predictably, the lack of mention of Mary Lobb.<br />
<br />
To get up to speed with this particular bugbear of mine, check out my earlier posts about similar problems I had with Kelmscott Manor, former home of May Morris and Mary Lobb, and the artworks I made in response to it <a href="https://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/a-letter-to-kelmscott-manor.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/kelmscott-manor-reply.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-village-folk-had-lot-to-say-about.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/print-your-own-mary-lobb-zine.html" target="_blank">here</a>. (I should note that an <a href="https://www.sal.org.uk/kelmscott-manor/things-to-do/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/" target="_blank">exhibition about Mary Lobb</a> has just finished at Kelmscott, I didn't get the chance to see it, as it's difficult to get to Kelmscott if you don't drive, so I can't comment on how it covered their relationship, but it's great to see a spotlight on her).<br />
<br />
First, I'll highlight all of the mentions of Mary Lobb in the exhibition, then I will address some of the objections I often encounter when highlighting the absence of a queer narratives in such exhibitions, with this one in mind.<br />
<br />
Mentions of Mary Lobb in the exhibition:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>A text panel about Kelmscott Manor begins: <i>'In her later years, the majority of May's time was spent at Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire, which she shared with her 'housekeeper, cook and companion' Mary Lobb'</i></li>
<li>A photograph of the pair on holiday in Wales in 1926</li>
<li>Two further small photographs of the two in Iceland in 1931</li>
<li>A caption for a photograph of May on a pony in Iceland from the same trip, which reads: <i>'William Morris first visited Iceland in 1871 and was captivated by the dramatic landscape. In 1926, May and Mary Lobb followed in his footsteps. They returned to Iceland twice more. One their last trip in 1931, they were accompanied by Mary and Margaret Pierce, whom May had befriended during her lecture tour of North America'</i></li>
<li>In a display case of jewellery, all of the items were given to the V&A by Mary Lobb. It fails to mention that this is because May bequeathed the majority of her money and belongings to Lobb when she died. </li>
</ul>
<br />
Nowhere in any of this do we get a sense of the closeness between the two that would be evident with better interpretation. They lived together for the best part of 20 years, and hearsay has it that they shared the same bed, this seems to me that once again Mary Lobb's significance in May's life is being overlooked or swept under the carpet, whether platonic or otherwise.<br />
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<br />
The following are things I often hear in response to historic figures being read as LGBTQ, so I thought I would respond to them here. I also expect these would be the kind of defences people would make about Lobb's exclusion from the exhibition:<br />
<br />
<b>The exhibition was a showcase of Morris' work, not a biographical exhibition</b><br />
<br />
That's not strictly true. The exhibition of work is shaped around a timeline of May's life, which includes biographical information throughout. Curator Michael Petry once said (I'm paraphrasing) 'if you mention the wife, you have to mention the relationships he had with men' (about a male artist), and since there is mention of the May's relationships with George Bernard Shaw, and Henry Sparling, so too should there be information about her relationship with Lobb.<br />
<br />
<b>There is no proof that their relationship was anything but platonic</b><br />
<br />
There is also no proof that she was sexually attracted to George Bernard Shaw or Henry Sparling. There <i>is</i> proof that Lobb and Morris lived together. A few years ago I spent a day at the archive at the William Morris Gallery and asked to see all of the material relating to Lobb, so I know that there is plenty of material that shows that other people around them thought that there was an atypical closeness between them, or more to their relationship than merely companionship (in fact, I made a sound piece called <a href="https://soundcloud.com/towardsqueer/the-village-folk-had-a-lot-to-say-about-it" target="_blank">The village folk had a lot to say</a> about it using the words of their contemporaries verbatim).<br />
<br />
<b>Lobb was not a designer/ well known figure/ pre-Rephaelite beauty/ important enough to feature</b><br />
<br />
All the more reason to include her. She was a working woman, and an important part of May's life. Figures like her are all the more relatable to visitors today than anyone else in the exhibition. I was first drawn to Mary Lobb because she is an androgynous figure, she instantly spoke to me in a way that many historic figures do not.<br />
<br />
<b>Lobb, and more specifically, the relationship she had with May Morris is not well documented enough</b><br />
<br />
Indeed not, but curators and interpretation staff in museums draw conclusions every day. I'm not asking that they 'out' May Morris, but that they aren't dismissive of such an important relationship, or that perhaps they acknowledge that many, even in their lifetime, assumed the two were a couple.<br />
<br />
<b>The curators did not want to make any assumptions/ jump to conclusions</b><br />
<br />
To say this, assumes heterosexuality as the default, or that May Morris being a lesbian, or bisexual is somehow shameful. How often do we assume that someone was straight with no proof? There's plenty of proof that Morris' relationship with Mary Lobb was a more enduring and important one than any she had with a man. I think it's not too far of a reach to jump to this conclusion.<br />
<br />
Those are just some very quick thoughts about it. I'd be really keen to hear from anyone who visited, or was involved in the Mary Lobb exhibition at Kelmscott Manor, to see how they approached the relationship, and to hear if any more archival material was dug up in the process. That all said, if you want to have a look at a load of very beautiful embroideries, for free, then I recommend the exhibition. If you're looking for any mentions of the queerness of the relationship between May Morris and my favourite historic butch, Mary Lobb- then you'll probably be disappointed.<br />
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Be back soon.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-16631001515853575212017-08-05T15:08:00.000-07:002017-08-21T02:08:59.320-07:00Daily Mail vs National Trust (AGAIN)<div class="MsoNormal">
<strong>These are obviously my own views about the recent Felbrigg debacle, NOT that of the National Trust.</strong><br />
<br /><br />
As everyone knows, the 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the
partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales is being marked
by many huge heritage institutions, including the British Museum, Tate
Modern/Britain, Historic Royal Palaces, V&A etc. It seems though that the
only institution to be consistently ruffling the feathers of homophobic right
wing rag commentariat is the National Trust. </div>
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<br /></div>
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When the 2017 Prejudice and Pride
programme was announced at the end of last year, Breitbart fascist Delingpole
claimed the ‘once great’ institution had been sullied by the inclusion of LGBTQ
histories, and name dropped my beloved Sutton House as being his former
favourite property, now hosting the ‘nonsensical’ Sutton House Queered programme.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m currently at my family home, and I’m ashamed to say my
dad buys and reads the Daily Mail. Today, amidst the political chaos in our
country, the Daily Mail deemed the National Trust front page material. He made
a joke about hiding it from me. He mistakenly thinks that my distaste for the
Daily Mail in contrast to his reverence for it is amusing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I know very well that the Daily Mail is reactionary, and
barely based on truth. We all do. But earlier in the year when the rag bemoaned
with outrage that the National Trust had CANCELLED EASTER, I could only roll my
eyes, as the day before I had helped to hang a huge canvas banner emblazoned
with the word Easter in front of a National Trust property. It was amusing
because it was laughably reactionary, and also, very easily demonstrably not
true. It also created the largest number of visits for the Easter weekend that
Sutton House had ever seen.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Today’s headline reads MUTINY IN THE NATIONAL TRUST, and is
in response to volunteers from Felbrigg in Norfolk who refused to wear
Prejudice and Pride badges. In response to their refusal, the Trust asked them
to move away from public-facing duties for the duration of the programme.
Firstly, let’s just unpick the headline. 10 ‘furious’ volunteers out of a body
of over 70,000 volunteers across the National Trust (ie 0.01%) is emphatically
not a mutiny. It’s a mere drop in the ocean. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
When the Prejudice and Pride programme began, the Trust
approached it very carefully, working with and consulting many experts
(including myself), such as Stonewall, curator of Queering the Museum and
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Matt Smith and Leader of the Leicester
University School of Museum Studies, Richard Sandell. We worked together on a
series of training days to discuss how various inevitable challenges could be
met. Volunteers were always a great consideration. The Trust is so privileged
that so many people devote their time, skills and energy to volunteering there,
but sometimes volunteers can be difficult- anyone working in museums and
heritage can tell you that much. I visited Seaton Deleval in Northumberland
once and I had to walk away from an elderly volunteer who was using sexist
language to refer to a Mary Eleanor Bowes portrait, when he noticed her
portrait had caught my eye. Not everyone thinks LGBTQ history should be uncovered,
they prefer that it should continue to be hidden, like a shameful dirty secret,
and unfortunately, out of 70,000 volunteers, it’s inevitable that some of those
would share that view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The news that the National Trust had stood firm on this ruling
that volunteers must wear lanyards or badges reflecting the programme at the
house was like music to my ears. Like a lot of large charities and organisations,
the Trust has a set of values and behaviours that all staff and volunteers must
abide by. These range from being respectful to people, to being willing to try
new things, but also that we be advocates and ambassadors for the National
Trust. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
So often, as with many of my own visits to National Trust
properties, the only people you will encounter as a visitor is a volunteer. It
makes perfect sense then, that they be ‘on message’, for whatever is going on
in the property at that time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pam Meecham, my PhD supervisor, has written about the Hello
Sailor exhibition at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and noted how some of the
museum staff wanted nothing to do with the exhibition, and were vocal in their
disapproval of it. It shouldn’t be behaviour that is tolerated from staff, and
therefore should not be tolerated by volunteers. The difference is, volunteers
are not contractually bound to sharing the values of the Trust, so the
alternative, if they are not prepared to do so, is to take their skills
elsewhere, and use their time where their values are in line with the
organisation (the daily mail perhaps?). I think it’s very generous for the
Trust’s stance to be to allow them to move their duties away from front of
house rather than just showing them the door.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I obviously feel very strongly about criticisms about the
Trust’s LGBTQ engagement, and take a lot of it very personally given my role in
laying the foundations for it, and in building the programme this year (especially
since I know that people like my parents are consuming the sort venom that is
being written about it). It hasn’t always been easy, both from inside and
outside the Trust, but reading that they were taking such a bold stance made me
feel really valued, and genuinely moved by the Trust’s devotion to these
important histories, and to making their properties more inviting and welcoming
to LGBTQ communities. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m disheartened to see they have reneged this bold stance
in the face of criticism from the Daily Mail and the Telegraph. They haven’t
yielded to the ‘fury’ of volunteers, they’ve yielded to homophobia/transphobia.
And if you change your course in response to hatred and ignorance, you give
weight and merit to that hatred and ignorance, and say that those who voiced it
are in the right. This is really disappointing, it feels like one step forward
and too steps back and it’s exhausting.<br />
<br />
The Daily Mail is the enemy of many people and many things
and carries a lot of power given its colossal readership. But if you continue
to worry about what the Daily Mail is going to say about every thing you do,
and if you cave in to bullying from thick right wingers, you’ll never get
anything done. The future members and visitors of the National Trust are not
old white Daily Mail readers, so we really, really need to stop bending to the
every wishes of old, white Daily Mail readers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>I feature on episode three of the National Trust's Prejudice and Pride podcast, speaking with Dr Gus Casely-Hayford and Clare Balding about hidden queer histories. The whole series is great, written by Museum of Transology's E-J Scott, <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/our-lgbtq-podcast-series-presented-by-clare-balding?campid=Social_Central_twitter_podcast_LGBTQpodcast-040817" target="_blank">check them out here</a>.</b></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-67947866826665544462017-07-10T14:41:00.002-07:002017-07-10T14:47:00.337-07:00"Get your acorns out!" - the National Trust at PrideI've finally handed a full version of my thesis to my supervisors, so hopefully will have more time to blog, and I'm also planning on making the blog a bit nicer too, and adding more info about the exhibitions we've had at Sutton House this year.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXex5zlLCKTkytdGDjvvSnJiJp5YxMwj4g17FB36ITEFOGCx6krbMGG57Br2y29W17uMSwQQfDLsHpoEdPwA1zDPVaw7arTvDEHX9Xz9Ga92xvb1N-fOld6UGnMfGEHvpeR8uamBILJn9i/s1600/19884519_882096786650_7189198812087886975_n.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXex5zlLCKTkytdGDjvvSnJiJp5YxMwj4g17FB36ITEFOGCx6krbMGG57Br2y29W17uMSwQQfDLsHpoEdPwA1zDPVaw7arTvDEHX9Xz9Ga92xvb1N-fOld6UGnMfGEHvpeR8uamBILJn9i/s400/19884519_882096786650_7189198812087886975_n.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
This week has been a pretty unusual week for me at work. On Wednesday we hosted a member's event at Sutton House hosted by National Trust Director Helen Ghosh. I was delighted to be asked to chair the panel event, and the discussion was around making the Trust more diverse and inclusive. On Saturday, the Sutton House team led the National Trust's presence at Pride in London. If you'd have told me when I started researching and volunteering for the Trust in 2013 that either of these things were happening I'd have guffawed. It seems a very appropriate way to bookend the uphill struggle that has been my relationship with the Trust (and frustrations with the heritage world more broadly), and my PhD.<br />
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I've ranted on here before about <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/pride-freedomto-complain.html" target="_blank">how problematic I find Pride</a>, and haven't attended for the past few years, opting instead for Queer Picnic, Black Pride or Trans Pride in Brighton, all of which embody what Pride events should feel like for me much more than London Pride.<br />
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I hate that Pride now presents an opportunity for institutions to stick a rainbow flag on themselves and be seen to be visibly supportive of a community they do shit all to support all year round. I hate that the organisers so consistently get everything wrong (as an aside I attended a winter club night they did at Scala and they had a men's queue and a woman's queue... yet they claim to be for the whole LGBTQ community...). I hated that a police man came up to me this year to ask for a selfie, I said no, and that he could have a selfie for every time the police have appropriately dealt with a hate crime I've reported... Pride is too corporate, too white, too cis, too homonormative, pats people and institutions on the back too much for being "allies" but for not actually doing anything, is hypocritical and blind to the genuine pressing issues that queer communities face around the country and the world.<br />
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So it was with a lot of anxieties and doubt that I agreed to march in Pride for the first time, and especially to march as part of a huge organisation. But I'm actually pleased I did. The Trust haven't always got it right this year when dealing with LGBTQ histories as part of the Prejudice and Pride programme, but I know that those who worked on it, and helped put together the Pride march are all coming from the same place as me. When we were first talking about Pride, I said I wouldn't be involved if we were selling memberships on the day- as I think it would be desperately inappropriate to do so. Instead, our presence should be to show support, to celebrate the work we have done over the last few years (especially at Sutton House!) and to celebrate our LGBTQ staff and volunteers.<br />
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This year at Sutton House, all of our programming has been related to LGBTQ themes. We have worked with (and paid!) exclusively LGBTQ artists, have given platforms to people that otherwise wouldn't have had them from the Sutton House community (such as Victor Zagon, who I will blog about more fully at some point!), we've worked with a young LGBTQ support group, we have explored queer themes with school groups and in our family offers. My exhibition Master-Mistress in 2014 was the first ever LGBT History Month exhibition in a National Trust property, we were the first to launch gender neutral toilets, we've been hosting queer club nights with Amy Grimehouse and Late Night Library Club for years, and I know that we won't stop just because the Prejudice and Pride programme ends. I'm very concerned about legacy, but for now, I was very proud to march as part of Sutton House in Pride, I have worked very hard to help educate a large organisation about LGBTQ heritage, I have called out staff in the Trust when they have got things wrong, and just because the Trust are now on the cusp of progress, I won't stop doing either of those things.<br />
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I love the National Trust, that's why I've spent over four years researching and writing about it, that's why I volunteered with them, and why I'm so pleased to have a job at my favourite National Trust house. Marching in Pride also made me realise how much affection my community has for the Trust too, even if sometimes it seems very conservative, or inaccessible, people appreciate the aims of Europe's largest conservation charity, and recognise our attempts to get better. Fear not- I will continue to hold the Trust to account and work with my equally passionate colleagues to ensure that this is just the beginning of making the Trust a better place for EVERYONE.<br />
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We met a lovely man called Martin from the London Gay Men's Chorus, who had been part of the Save Sutton House Campaign back in the late 1980s- I'm looking forward to getting in touch with him to start recording his memories, some of which we were lucky enough to hear over a pint after the march.<br />
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Also: huge shoutout to the man in the crowd that shouted "Get your acorns out!" as we marched past.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-7638310105566863322017-02-14T13:17:00.001-08:002017-02-14T13:17:32.020-08:00Museum of TransologyThe <a href="http://www.fashionspacegallery.com/exhibition/museum-transology/" target="_blank">Museum of Transology</a>, curated by my dear friend and all round genius E-J Scott, is currently on at the Fashion Space Gallery until 22nd April, and is one of the best exhibitions I've ever clapped eyes on.<br />
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I'm so over Trans narratives being sensationalised, othered and shown purely as before/after stories, MoT is a refreshing move away from that, where trans people tell their own stories through the labels they attach to the objects they have donated.<br />
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The objects range from the sublime to the ridiculous; the obvious, the powerful, the bodily and the heartbreaking, to the banal and downright boring- and herein lies the genius of the exhibition; trans lives can be just as bureaucratic, just as tedious, just as everyday as cis lives- and presented here in such a beautifully designed and curated space, with stories told by and with the fair hands of the people whose stories they are, comes a lesson to all curators.<br />
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<i>Nothing about us without us</i> is a bit of a tired saying now, but it holds true, regardless the content of the exhibition, it will always be engaging, warm, funny and moving, if its subjects are involved from the very beginning, and given complete agency in choosing how their stories are included, shared and interpreted.<br />
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The beauty of MoT is in its simplicity, in its heart, and in its boldness of telling a cacophonous series of narratives from a community that is wildly varied and anything but homogenous. At no point does MoT attempt to tell a singular trans narrative, and this is largely because who better to tell us that no such thing exists, but the trans community themselves.<br />
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I'm very proud of E-J and everyone involved, and think that this exhibition should, and must, mark a cultural shift for those of us in the museum sector who want our practice to be more thoughtful, more socially just and accessible, and to genuinely move conversations forward.<br />
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Here's a sample of some of the coverage MoT has had:<br />
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<a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/museum-of-transology-ej-scott-curator-interview" target="_blank">Broadly</a>, <a href="http://www.designhistorysociety.org/news/view/museum-of-transology-friday-20-january-saturday-22-april-2017" target="_blank">Design History Society</a>, <a href="http://www.itsnicethat.com/news/museum-of-transology-of-transgender-art-and-artefacts-opens-in-london-190117" target="_blank">It's Nice That</a>, <a href="http://london.lecool.com/event/museum-transology/?utm_source=newsletterLondon&utm_medium=email&utm_term=lenewsletter2017_01_19&utm_content=lenewsletterLondon_2017_01_19&utm_campaign=lenewsletter2017_01_19" target="_blank">Le Cool</a>, <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/largest-ever-uk-exhibition-of-trans-artefacts-and-portraiture-opens-at-london-college-of-fashion" target="_blank">I-D</a>, <a href="http://www.elleuk.com/life-and-culture/culture/news/a33542/the-museum-of-transology/" target="_blank">Elle</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/museum-transology-trans-people-lgbt-exhibition-london-college-fashion-objects-gender-sexuality-a7543781.html" target="_blank">Independent</a>, <a href="https://www.disegnodaily.com/article/museum-of-transology-fashion-space" target="_blank">Disegno</a>, <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/in-pictures-a-first-look-at-the-museum-of-transology-011917" target="_blank">Time Out</a>, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-322-refugee-crisis-at-the-oscars-the-slants-cartoonists-on-trump-the-museum-of-transology-and-more-1.3951792/the-museum-of-transology-turns-everyday-objects-into-artifacts-to-tell-trans-peoples-stories-1.3951808" target="_blank">CBC</a>, <a href="http://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2017/01/interview-transology/" target="_blank">Wonderland</a>, <a href="https://www.notjustalabel.com/event/museum-of-transology" target="_blank">Not Just a Label</a><br />
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I'm also really delighted to say I'll be speaking on a panel about identifying, collecting and preserving trans and queer histories as part of the series of events supporting the exhibition.<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">It's called </span><b style="text-align: center;">Trancestory: Now you see it, now you don't</b><span style="text-align: center;">, and it takes place on 9th March at 7pm. For more info and to book, </span><a href="http://www.fashionspacegallery.com/event/finding-saving-curating/" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">visit this page</a><span style="text-align: center;">.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXT2A6lbqgRVEFw6DknJTqmxDRCAxlY6P-RZZwzasCsJtMb2zIRP-XwYqBHqOwjH3lsRYx9hHo0MymZ5C6BDOsCmWPaCGGXg5yjxFnpnXbclbgIbEFqV81LqIHX0wEY-dD5X720-yWOqe0/s1600/16114052_848937223680_4991435767319047062_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXT2A6lbqgRVEFw6DknJTqmxDRCAxlY6P-RZZwzasCsJtMb2zIRP-XwYqBHqOwjH3lsRYx9hHo0MymZ5C6BDOsCmWPaCGGXg5yjxFnpnXbclbgIbEFqV81LqIHX0wEY-dD5X720-yWOqe0/s320/16114052_848937223680_4991435767319047062_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-35291638798911235132016-11-17T12:12:00.000-08:002016-11-17T12:18:30.630-08:00Petworth (and a very queer statue)I was lucky enough to visit Petworth this week on a training day. The West Sussex country house contains one of the most iconic art collections in the care of National Trust, and a Capability Brown landscaped deer park in the 700 odd acre grounds are home to the country's largest herd of fallow deer. We only had time for a brief whistlestop tour, but I will definitely make time to go back to have a closer look, and also to explore the grounds more.<br />
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There was one particular statue in the collection that stood out for me. The Petworth twitter feed helpfully pointed me towards <a href="http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/486318" target="_blank">this record</a> on the collections website.<br />
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This is <i>Pan and Apollo (or Marsyas and Olympos or Pan and Daphnis)</i>. In other words, it's potentially any of three combinations of mythical figures. I was struck by the tenderness, and lets face it, queerness of the statue. Let's consider for a moment that the sculpture depicts Pan and Daphnis, Daphnis was a Sicilian shepherd whose mother was a nymph, and is often depicted as an eromenos, which means the younger man in a pederastic relationship- a convention which was both socially accepted, and recognised in Ancient Greece. Pan fell in love with Daphnis, and taught him to play the panpipes. These models of relationships can be problematic to use as parallels with contemporary understandings of sexual identities. There were no rules or laws about age when it came to sex in Ancient Greece, but there were about consent. Either way, it's certainly one aspect of Greek/Roman culture that hasn't directly informed our own 'civilisation'. The curators of the British Museum's Warren Cup exhibition in 2006 no doubt had to think very carefully about how the object, which more blatantly depicts sex between <i style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">erastês</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> and </span><i style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">erômenos,</i> was framed in contemporary conversations around sexuality.<br />
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Apart from being a really striking statue, it serves to remind us that you never have to look too hard for queer histories and narratives in historic houses, or at least for artworks, furniture and objects that lend themselves well to queer readings and interpretation.<br />
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I was also compelled to do a little sharpie doodle of the statue:<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-80474992303864594992016-10-30T05:53:00.000-07:002016-10-30T05:53:23.622-07:00seeking contributions for gender neutral toilet project<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2eKQ02UmP6OqpF8y-f68MKY9AJu1a3rhNsVPzeDQOjju66w288P_xDvHiF8mnMxPkXRcokPfAN9ZSlKKWXs4KjfDkDYtyVzwCk4t4X2B8YQI9jHeWx3cj3LwepuGfyM8lZU5w6REJZ-D/s1600/Gender-Neutral-Toilet-Sign-White-1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2eKQ02UmP6OqpF8y-f68MKY9AJu1a3rhNsVPzeDQOjju66w288P_xDvHiF8mnMxPkXRcokPfAN9ZSlKKWXs4KjfDkDYtyVzwCk4t4X2B8YQI9jHeWx3cj3LwepuGfyM8lZU5w6REJZ-D/s320/Gender-Neutral-Toilet-Sign-White-1000.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
In 2017, my place of work will be marking the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of sex between consenting men, by having a year long LGBTQ season of exhibitions and events. As part of this, we will be re-signing one of our toilets as a gender neutral one. Due to limitations of budget and a 500 year old building, this is just a small step, but one that we hope indicates our dedication to ensuring that our doors are opened more widely to trans and gender non-conforming people.<br />
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When I was doing my undergraduate degree in Hull, I was at the Student Union nightclub Asylum, and was threatened in the boys toilets for my gender expression, and forced out. I tried to go into the women's toilets with my friend, and a bouncer came in and dragged me out. I literally wasn't allowed to use any toilets. Public toilets can be a really traumatic place for many people, especially those who are trans and gender non-conforming. This is a project that I feel very strongly about.<br />
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As a way of marking the grand opening of the gender neutral toilet, we want to give people an opportunity to share their experiences (traumatic and positive) that they have faced in public toilets because of their gender identity or expression. There are two ways I would like to invite you to get involved:<br />
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<b>1. Record a short sound bite (no more than three minutes) about your experience/s. These will be played throughout February in our 16th century Gardrobe- the oldest toilet in Hackney!</b><br />
<b>2. Write a short piece about your experience (approx 500 words) to be included in a short zine which will be distributed for free.</b><br />
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All contributions will be anonymous. The Gardrobe is on the first floor of Sutton House, and is not wheelchair accessible. The gender neutral toilet will be though, and the sound bites will be played in an accessible space throughout February, and made available online as well.<br />
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To get involved, or for more information, email me at Sean.Curran@NationalTrust.org.ukUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-89230558037375084632016-09-14T14:10:00.001-07:002016-09-14T14:10:29.997-07:00Tips for writing a PhD thesis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6kFAn8uXNu5hXoQgykmQgcs4VuEizjuU6odIk366ZNXTZv1NHEsP_TdSH3xBAg14KXIAZ2hlXbnUHU7b-OportSXhbuK8GUKt4pIz-auoc2Aphf8vLPVDHemo4pFGi2HxtETUN9-Udahp/s1600/scream.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6kFAn8uXNu5hXoQgykmQgcs4VuEizjuU6odIk366ZNXTZv1NHEsP_TdSH3xBAg14KXIAZ2hlXbnUHU7b-OportSXhbuK8GUKt4pIz-auoc2Aphf8vLPVDHemo4pFGi2HxtETUN9-Udahp/s640/scream.png" width="408" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I've been thinking a lot recently about whether or not I regret undertaking a PhD. This is mainly because today is my deadline. My writing up year has finished. I haven't though. I still have a lot of writing to do, and although I've done a lot of work over the past six weeks or so, the finish line doesn't seem to be getting any closer. Thankfully I have very supportive supervisors, who are very much on my side, and have been really understanding with how much I've struggled to balance full time work and PhD writing, and with the mental health difficulties I've had over the past four years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you'd have asked me at the beginning of summer whether I regretted starting a PhD, I'd have definitely said yes. I was working the most stressful and poorly paid job I've ever had, and I've never felt so undervalued. I loved working with children, a lot of the adults less so. If you ask me now about whether I regret starting a PhD, I'm less certain. I've landed in my dream job, that would have been impossible without the unpaid work I did while I was studying, the only time I've been able to consistently volunteer, because I was fortunate enough to be fully funded for three years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Either way, I can't wait for it to be over, it's drained so much from me, and I can't wait to be able to sit at home doing nothing without feeling guilty about not working, to be able to look forward to leaving work knowing that I can relax, I mostly can't wait to start tackling the massive stack of books I haven't read for the last four years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I've also been thinking about how many pieces of advice I've ignored, or wish I had heard, and thought perhaps I can use this weird reflective moment to try and be of use to other people. So here are my top tips, specifically for <b>writing</b> the thesis. (I'll give you a bonus tip about applying: THINK VERY CAREFULLY ABOUT WHETHER A PHD IS THE RIGHT THING FOR YOU- can you get to where you want to be without? if so, do that instead):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Every time you read an article, book or
chapter, or hear an interesting conference paper or lecture, don't just write a
list of quotes, try and immediately formulate some writing in response to it,
even if it's just a summary of ideas. Basically just write write write from the
start.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Agree regular deadlines for written work
with your supervisors from the start. If they're quite laid back, impress on
them how important it is for you to have strict and regular deadlines to work
to. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Make friends with the university librarians and library assistants. I was lucky in this respect, as I worked in the library. They are your best PhD allies. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Find a good way of managing your
physical and digital work. Scrivener is great for organising documents,
unfortunately I acquired it quite late in my PhD. Writing such a lengthy piece
of work is an inherently fragmented process, try and keep your files and papers
organised, even when your head isn't. When reading/ editing I work better from
paper, if you have loads of printouts of your own work at various stages of
completion, make sure you date it or recycle it if it's no longer needed. On
the front of printed articles, it's useful to write a one sentence summary, not
about what the article is about, but about how it's useful for you. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Don't try and reinvent the conventions of a
thesis. Yeah the standard formula of PhD theses is tedious, and the temptation to try and make the process more interesting and creative is high,</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> but only like three
people are ever going to read it, so just tick the boxes and get it done, you
can write your masterpiece later.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Speak at conferences, write
articles/book chapters, but make sure anything you do can be reconfigured with
minimal effort into your thesis- don't make more work for yourself, likewise
with any upgrading written work early on, try and use it as an opportunity to
draft an introduction or a methodology chapter.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Teach if possible. Try and leave room in
seminars/lectures for conversations. MA students are good at giving feedback
without even realising it, plus they're not too jaded by academia yet, like
other PhD students.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find high theory dense,
inaccessible, dull and unhelpful- don't try and write it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you have a good relationship with
your supervisors, always take their advice. They're trying to help you get a
PhD. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you have a good relationship with
your supervisors, tell them when they're wrong. (obviously contradicts previous
point, but hear me out). Towards the end of your PhD (maybe even from the
start), chances are you're more of an expert in your specific field than your
supervisors. It's okay to say "actually, I'm not going to take your
suggestion, I don't think it's important to focus on that", “that’s not
really the direction I want to take with this” etc.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Talk about your work with your friends,
especially those also doing PhDs, as you can offer each other advice, and they're more likely to humour you. Some of
my biggest breakthroughs have been from conversations with friends from
different disciplines over a pint.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit;">and these are the most important ones:</span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you are working full time, and
writing your PhD full time, seek help from the doctoral school/administrators,
it's not feasible, and it's not usual. don't kill yourself trying to make it
work.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mental health always trumps PhD. Don't
cut yourself off from friends, don't stop doing the things you enjoy out of
guilt. You don't need to devote every waking second to your PhD. Look after
yourself.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US">Don't take yourself too seriously.
Unless you're becoming an actual real doctor, no one cares you're doing a PhD
except for you, and nor should </span>they.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">And finally, some advice for those
who spend a lot of time with people doing their PhD: if they say "fine thanks" when you ask
them how it's going, it means "don't ask me any more questions about
it", PhD students spend so much time thinking about and talking about
their work- don't feel you need to show any interest, they probably appreciate
the break.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On the plus side, when this is all said and done I will have
earned a gender neutral title at last.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Wish me luck, but don't ask me how it's going.</span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-48479163287974006442016-08-22T10:43:00.001-07:002016-08-22T10:43:25.977-07:00'Sex Museums: The Politics and Performance of Display' review<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdi2itCS1O7dZ16-okaA577MkxTg9XYsbN-BUsX8BwEDi7hjjLjIQUeeNK65dQzOw83_cFKc2A0SjNZRqs7P9rIlTF154MpWeHnrGV3ippX5ZTjhYeDK2iJQcD0y0qLiUfYuPq802g8k6/s1600/51ZWzlkpRkL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqdi2itCS1O7dZ16-okaA577MkxTg9XYsbN-BUsX8BwEDi7hjjLjIQUeeNK65dQzOw83_cFKc2A0SjNZRqs7P9rIlTF154MpWeHnrGV3ippX5ZTjhYeDK2iJQcD0y0qLiUfYuPq802g8k6/s400/51ZWzlkpRkL.jpg" width="266" /></a>Hello all, just a quick post today- I'm currently at the bitter end of thesis writing, hence my inactivity on the blog.<br />
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Some great news though, I have got the job of Community Learning Manager at the National Trust's Sutton House in Hackney, where I have volunteered since starting my PhD, and is the central site I look at in my thesis. I start in September, and I'm so excited to be part of such a great team in such a radical and important National Trust house!<br />
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I have written a review of Jennifer Tyburczy's <i>Sex Museums: The Politics and Performance of Display</i> for the Histsex, H-Net Reviews site. You can read the review <a href="http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=46572" target="_blank">here</a>, or there is a printable <a href="http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=46572" target="_blank">PDF version here</a>. A really great book, and very timely for my thesis!<br />
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I've also started a professional twitter account, you can find me and follow me @<a href="https://twitter.com/TowardsQueer" target="_blank">TowardsQueer</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-85958104533992708682016-05-18T14:14:00.001-07:002016-05-18T14:14:48.351-07:00Speak Out! LGBTQ+ history exhibition & the 2016 LGBTQ ALMS conferenceHello! Apologies for such a lengthy gap between blog posts. I started working in a secondary school in Hackney in November, and I'm still writing up my thesis, which leaves little time for blogging, but I shall endeavour to do better!<br />
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<b>Speak Out!</b><br />
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Speak Out London, LGBTQ+ history exhibition is now up and running at the London Metropolitan Archives. I am so pleased and proud to have been a part of such an excellent project. The exhibition is part of an LGBTQ+ oral history community project revealing stories of LGBTQ experience in London from 1395 to the present. It's been a real labour of love for the LMA team, myself and a legion of volunteers. The next phase of the project is a website!<br />
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Here are a few pictures:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9RSOYadD86H2V9WfmcZAnMqF1H_vGgf-qkI3WUwdGdIkEre05JCRQG97s9fn1VdNA9GrbF4O7xPK3zx7mBM9-APvLjGkO7Q6-jOUuwO3RzYgXN4jxn9q7a5pK0mohhTPLhRH7TaJDvmC/s1600/IMG_1391.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB9RSOYadD86H2V9WfmcZAnMqF1H_vGgf-qkI3WUwdGdIkEre05JCRQG97s9fn1VdNA9GrbF4O7xPK3zx7mBM9-APvLjGkO7Q6-jOUuwO3RzYgXN4jxn9q7a5pK0mohhTPLhRH7TaJDvmC/s400/IMG_1391.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlB_IO02vyeR0a4Th0IxEtzHSM79M7Q_4TisdgreSDpkZGY0iWzN6b_YJc7-Q56HHcFlF35NvwVII7LAUFHslOuVZP-6L0X7-1iQvyDSFrlZXTPSqahnKEQMoRJLTwx4nnL5jgkYiSRmY/s1600/IMG_1395.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNlB_IO02vyeR0a4Th0IxEtzHSM79M7Q_4TisdgreSDpkZGY0iWzN6b_YJc7-Q56HHcFlF35NvwVII7LAUFHslOuVZP-6L0X7-1iQvyDSFrlZXTPSqahnKEQMoRJLTwx4nnL5jgkYiSRmY/s400/IMG_1395.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'm particularly pleased with our wall of contested definitions, where visitors are invited (and encouraged) to graffiti it with their own additions, corrections and thoughts to the ever-evolving ways in which those in our wonderful community define, describe and identify.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsozZHPPsNIe8WQIjURGHk_jLRoKeAf3zJ4lBR0hEWm24llpO8_Sgnzydzg3CKzqvybT-icXgGtn1akY7jJmhKP-FczFhueTOl6gYuKSKTmWFmLhohclRKUpGFdxJjaFkVgAQwvgqg4bRF/s1600/IMG_1403.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsozZHPPsNIe8WQIjURGHk_jLRoKeAf3zJ4lBR0hEWm24llpO8_Sgnzydzg3CKzqvybT-icXgGtn1akY7jJmhKP-FczFhueTOl6gYuKSKTmWFmLhohclRKUpGFdxJjaFkVgAQwvgqg4bRF/s400/IMG_1403.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpiUhguF60_voWXW883vo9dBE9w7euDmrRlFxml3Gd89JLew85-31Tte1n2xbm5MA5Zkc-t069jX6Q5T2Rhahsac4dIHncHF1KBH8YgvWztaszmJm4GyCLTTDxpSvL_tD7dqJUicupCeO0/s1600/IMG_1405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpiUhguF60_voWXW883vo9dBE9w7euDmrRlFxml3Gd89JLew85-31Tte1n2xbm5MA5Zkc-t069jX6Q5T2Rhahsac4dIHncHF1KBH8YgvWztaszmJm4GyCLTTDxpSvL_tD7dqJUicupCeO0/s400/IMG_1405.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-E_1GRjfYTxJxNX4fmys6pKYQmYKpIevF1uYgrA1fczz2DRS68VBv2usUdTzEkvya4quG4KpDpZkRGrw-C76jFU-bw9xhxSgiKEUuQ04F9EIE60aOTrLl2EYylD-3pHXKgnL-Pm_BGWRP/s1600/IMG_1408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-E_1GRjfYTxJxNX4fmys6pKYQmYKpIevF1uYgrA1fczz2DRS68VBv2usUdTzEkvya4quG4KpDpZkRGrw-C76jFU-bw9xhxSgiKEUuQ04F9EIE60aOTrLl2EYylD-3pHXKgnL-Pm_BGWRP/s400/IMG_1408.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<b>LGBTQ+ ALMS conference 2016 'Without Borders'</b><br />
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Another project I'm involved with is the 2016 LGBTQ+ Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections (ALMS) conference, hosted by Bishopsgate, University of Westminster and LMA.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRb2YKMy5l4NtcZ2dtU_QE5rgvNaDEfMiCvK7P6YdgB-RDGdOZ1P8S5mF6qszunT-bvNGW6-SbpvnTKIeYMdX6BcPPwjcAJf2WYlDyYw37lSQLA2yvIXrfeuzw8SmoDKL7YtZlleNYOpu2/s1600/12079496_1707911276104774_9019145407756854939_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRb2YKMy5l4NtcZ2dtU_QE5rgvNaDEfMiCvK7P6YdgB-RDGdOZ1P8S5mF6qszunT-bvNGW6-SbpvnTKIeYMdX6BcPPwjcAJf2WYlDyYw37lSQLA2yvIXrfeuzw8SmoDKL7YtZlleNYOpu2/s400/12079496_1707911276104774_9019145407756854939_n.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>
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I would never have thought, when me and Jan Pimblett (from the LMA) were drinking jagermeister in the oldest lesbian bar in Amsterdam during the 2012 ALMS conference that we would be working together on its follow up in London. The programme is phenomenal, and <a href="http://lgbtqalms.co.uk/conference-programme/" target="_blank">can be found here</a>. And over the next few weeks in the build up, the website will be continuing to grow with tasters, teasers and tidbits! <a href="http://lgbtqalms.co.uk/" target="_blank">Keep up to date here</a>. Hope to see many of you there! You can <a href="http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/event/650/Without-Borders-LGBTQ-Conference?&Keyword&TypeID" target="_blank">buy tickets here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-37186153579291404422016-02-17T08:33:00.000-08:002016-02-17T08:33:24.121-08:00"It had to be both" Twilight People at Islington Museum<i>Twilight People: stories of gender and faith beyond the binary</i> is now up and running at Islington Museum.<br />
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Curating narratives of people with marginalised identities presents a series of challenges, especially when those people have intersecting marginalised identities. Alongside those challenges come great opportunities for transformative and radical curating; for subliminal activism that can educate, enlighten and wave the flag for pride, and for social justice. In Twilight People two worlds meet in a peaceful and powerful crescendo, that challenges and undoes the notion that trans and gender nonconforming identities are inherently at odds with faith, and that indeed gender identities can be affirmed, discovered and renewed through religion, and that religious identities too can be reinvented, strengthened and celebrated through gender diversity. Twilight seemingly represents an in-between place, but this exhibition aims to show that a trans journey is not necessarily about a start point and a finish point, a before and after, but rather that the transformative moment of Twilight can indeed be the destination itself.<br />
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Curators have a great responsibility. In highlighting the fluid and non-binary natures of faith and gender identities, it is essential to allow the subjects of the exhibition to have their voices at the forefront of the exhibition. Oral history allows this, and museums and archives are increasingly realising that aside from being interesting and engaging sources of his-and-herstory, that oral histories serve a political purpose in filling in the gaps in historical records that so often exclude diverse voices. The theme of Twilight People is Body and Ritual. My own expectations of the stories we collected, and the beautiful portraits, were that they would highlight the trans body, and the ritual of faith, but they also uncover bodies of faith and rituals of gender. The subjects of the exhibition are not merely subjects, through their generous participation and sharing, they are stakeholders of an important landmark in queer exhibitions, co-curators, activists and educators.<br />
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Here are some photographs from the exhibition:
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGxCd_QKQL1iVhNOjjxSdRRjn0RZSHwm6KQ1Z5xoJUGm6mFAX0qhLPVvqDVvewGOs8PZBIAT4QSlKez7yKsmMSjkzsu6tGG9Z205B1YlF6bEZ6GZtBW7noR4TFHwYGE-g3Gft_6yP_QAK/s1600/12717668_784093775470_6118348752612757104_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgowu7itpyiNcmuEWlBqE67UT-cjtEP3-CpANQGSphqOuyYfqGPGRB2Rg3ZU_k0AonNXAveil5b12FdOeCTGDRZEMSAeap9Xu-9h6lho2bky9uqO5-QsavFrtCJmmgvc1K35zqKoUg7pP1x/s1600/12742395_784094214590_725080995285968191_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgowu7itpyiNcmuEWlBqE67UT-cjtEP3-CpANQGSphqOuyYfqGPGRB2Rg3ZU_k0AonNXAveil5b12FdOeCTGDRZEMSAeap9Xu-9h6lho2bky9uqO5-QsavFrtCJmmgvc1K35zqKoUg7pP1x/s400/12742395_784094214590_725080995285968191_n.jpg" width="382" /></a><br />
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And here are some from the installation:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv38bDV_Xveanevc2_MVHV178Bv3PurO8mJ0hxR7ZQUu3C0g-pwt-jqNNbgPNh6kKUCuzw_H5Noe-41pTDPc7HILubmN6CyvIyNjV6s87dzJiGYE8vA6AeUADKmtSS20KLUgWmkqSp6C7Y/s1600/12742346_784094164690_1342539351747454609_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv38bDV_Xveanevc2_MVHV178Bv3PurO8mJ0hxR7ZQUu3C0g-pwt-jqNNbgPNh6kKUCuzw_H5Noe-41pTDPc7HILubmN6CyvIyNjV6s87dzJiGYE8vA6AeUADKmtSS20KLUgWmkqSp6C7Y/s400/12742346_784094164690_1342539351747454609_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfWPpQQrdeoc99f03CUI5LT-agttoVudgTYCcV4DCt6OI-0iRZqjsSdhx3bZrGrA09MoF4TbCTvbgUuM8PM-ME0dtkeR-x6GsLpaJ-4O9s-GRODEclzdg0l-lSLwcHb6bOAeJg5nSfcPF/s1600/12745798_784093815390_6253113207998569566_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfWPpQQrdeoc99f03CUI5LT-agttoVudgTYCcV4DCt6OI-0iRZqjsSdhx3bZrGrA09MoF4TbCTvbgUuM8PM-ME0dtkeR-x6GsLpaJ-4O9s-GRODEclzdg0l-lSLwcHb6bOAeJg5nSfcPF/s400/12745798_784093815390_6253113207998569566_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Marie and James from Roundhouse Radio worked in collaboration with young volunteers and SOAS radio to create a beautiful sound piece from the oral histories which will hopefully be available online soon. Here is James modelling the headgear from the public launch:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGxCd_QKQL1iVhNOjjxSdRRjn0RZSHwm6KQ1Z5xoJUGm6mFAX0qhLPVvqDVvewGOs8PZBIAT4QSlKez7yKsmMSjkzsu6tGG9Z205B1YlF6bEZ6GZtBW7noR4TFHwYGE-g3Gft_6yP_QAK/s1600/12717668_784093775470_6118348752612757104_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGxCd_QKQL1iVhNOjjxSdRRjn0RZSHwm6KQ1Z5xoJUGm6mFAX0qhLPVvqDVvewGOs8PZBIAT4QSlKez7yKsmMSjkzsu6tGG9Z205B1YlF6bEZ6GZtBW7noR4TFHwYGE-g3Gft_6yP_QAK/s400/12717668_784093775470_6118348752612757104_n.jpg" width="391" /></a></div>
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A huge thanks to everyone who worked on the project, but especially to the pioneering Surat-Shaan Knan, who is breaking ground with every project he embarks upon (also, highly recommend Through a Queer Lens at the Jewish Museum which he and Ajamu collaborated on). I had the pleasure of listening to Surat-Shaan's oral history in full and feel privileged to have heard it, one of my favourite moments is when he is discussing the intersection between his Jewishness and his gender identity, and he says "it couldn't be one or the other, it had to be both", which I thought beautifully captured the exhibition for me (and inspired the title to this blog post!). Massive thanks also to Charlotte Kingston, the lead curator, from whom I've learnt so much, both about curating, and about how to be an amazing ally. Huge love to both!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDP-SxPKy-gfUsMRX4xjTNYi8ncSq6Jv_dOd_uvZcaC92H59BZ-cu0KLpF0LbXH7dDF-bOXpDh_OZy_MfOjmHBt2QA6cQzMzZOAh5PXMb2-apk017BYU2mtMTMqSJ8v7eKDV9UCVprT89/s1600/12734082_784093745530_7240567084904482184_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDP-SxPKy-gfUsMRX4xjTNYi8ncSq6Jv_dOd_uvZcaC92H59BZ-cu0KLpF0LbXH7dDF-bOXpDh_OZy_MfOjmHBt2QA6cQzMzZOAh5PXMb2-apk017BYU2mtMTMqSJ8v7eKDV9UCVprT89/s400/12734082_784093745530_7240567084904482184_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The exhibition runs until the 5th of March, I hope you are as moved, enlightened and excited by these stories and images as I have been.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-11426302775654445502015-12-09T13:53:00.000-08:002015-12-09T13:53:57.573-08:00'Without Borders' LGBTQ Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections conferenceHello all, just a reminder that the deadline for proposals for the LGBTQ Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections conference 2016 is looming ever closer, they are due by Friday 8th January 2016, details below, including how to submit. I'm also delighted to share the official logo for the conference, designed by the fabulously talented Alex Creep, who you might remember designed the <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/126-exhibition-poster.html" target="_blank">beautiful poster</a> for my '126' exhibition!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhog8HNXRXj0I-tsSgxkqizcUxzRxUNPw9Fzc2-04aaaU7wEkCYHOW7eHvF6XTeBzh0-HkDtjFHKVs_QfzNALtu7kcwyXo77FS0HEDn3x6lUtZOevtdCeRSR1jGaN-e2JhR4QtsW61yvhRh/s1600/12079496_1707911276104774_9019145407756854939_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhog8HNXRXj0I-tsSgxkqizcUxzRxUNPw9Fzc2-04aaaU7wEkCYHOW7eHvF6XTeBzh0-HkDtjFHKVs_QfzNALtu7kcwyXo77FS0HEDn3x6lUtZOevtdCeRSR1jGaN-e2JhR4QtsW61yvhRh/s400/12079496_1707911276104774_9019145407756854939_n.jpg" width="397" /></a></div>
WITHOUT BORDERS…<br />
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<b>Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections (ALMS) 2016, an International LGBTQ+ Conference hosted by the City of London through London Metropolitan Archives in partnership with Bishopsgate Institute and University of Westminster. </b><br />
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Dates: 22 – 24 June 2016 Location: London<br />
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<b>Background </b><br />
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ALMS is an international conference focussed on the work by public, private, academic, and grassroots organisations which are collecting, capture and preserving archives of LGBTQ+ experiences, to ensure our histories continue to be documented and shared. The conference began in Minnesota in 2006 when the Tretter Collection and Quatrefoil Library co-hosted the first LGBT ALMS Conference. The last conference took place in Amsterdam in 2012 and saw archivists, activists, librarians, museums professionals and academics from around the world coming together to share success stories and discuss challenges involved in recording LGBTQ+ lives.<br />
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<b>CALL FOR PAPERS 2016 </b><br />
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To reflect our emerging global community, the 2016 conference is titled ‘<b>Without Borders</b>’. Papers are invited from across the heritage, cultural, academic and grassroots communities. Our aim is to generate a dialogue within the co-dependent fields of LGBTQ+ historical research and collecting, and share experiences, ideas and best practice through a programme of presentations and short talks that explore margins, borders, barriers and intersections, past and present. Topics may include, but are not limited to:<br />
<br />
<b>Barriers</b> –in accessing LGBTQ+ content within existing collections, and in collecting material from LGBTQ+ communities<br />
<b>Intersections</b> – collecting, cataloguing or researching subjects which share multiple / contrasting identities<br />
<b>Margins</b> – researching elusive or liminal subjects; learning, research or projects taking place outside formal institutions<br />
<b>Connections</b> – uniting individuals or communities across boundaries through heritage or research<br />
<b>Border police</b> – navigating the formal standards of the heritage sector, including official terms and language or constructions of identity<br />
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<b>We invite 200 word abstracts</b> offering informal 10-minute presentations that share work-in-progress or provide an introduction to new projects or research that address these themes.<br />
<br />
<b>We also invite 300 word abstracts</b> for 20-minute papers or presentations exploring the themes in more detail.<br />
<br />
We particularly welcome contributions from BME / QPOC (Black Minority Ethnic / Queer People of Colour) and Transgender communities, as well as from those living outside the UK and USA.<br />
<br />
<i>The ALMS conference 2016 is being delivered on a not-for-profit basis by London Metropolitan Archives and Bishopsgate Institute in order to encourage dialogue and share knowledge in LGBTQ+ histories and cultures. The conference is not being funded as part of a wider project and the organisers are unable to cover speakers’ costs except in cases where keynote or invited speakers are prevented from attendance for financial reasons. A limited number of bursaries for attendees will be made available at the beginning of 2016. </i><br />
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<b>Abstract deadline:</b> Friday 8 January 2016<br />
<b>Abstracts to:</b> jan.pimblett@cityoflondon.gov.uk<br />
<b>Facebook: </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/LGBTQALMS" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/LGBTQALMS</a> <b>Twitter:</b> @<a href="https://twitter.com/LGBTQALMS" target="_blank">LGBTQALMS</a> #alms2016Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-77333459385118796632015-11-12T06:46:00.000-08:002015-11-12T06:46:10.786-08:00Speak up! Speak out!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHwZvbcVnFmv5Jut6VaCwGKUsgRGUT852F8yHV1ftDA54ewDM6iTqjz7lLAChtYGitIW-xrzetcJT1ZKMBPAJ6hKjS0HCVmnazkbR1SdeXoWfH1tMn5U-JYR2tHABjwNmGyV5cUvZ2IjK/s1600/Speak+Up%2521+Speak+Out%2521+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHwZvbcVnFmv5Jut6VaCwGKUsgRGUT852F8yHV1ftDA54ewDM6iTqjz7lLAChtYGitIW-xrzetcJT1ZKMBPAJ6hKjS0HCVmnazkbR1SdeXoWfH1tMn5U-JYR2tHABjwNmGyV5cUvZ2IjK/s640/Speak+Up%2521+Speak+Out%2521+2015.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
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I'm very pleased to share the programme for the 13th Annual LGBTQ History and Archives conference at the London Metropolitan Archives. This year we'll be hearing about the <a href="https://speakoutlondon.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Speak Out!</a> oral history project (about which I may have some very exciting news soon) and the <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/lgbtq-heritage-project/" target="_blank">Pride of Place</a> project. There will also be an excerpt from <a href="http://www.behindthelines.info/press/" target="_blank">All the nice girls</a>. <br />
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The conference is a steal at just £10, and promises to be even better than last year's! Hope to see many of you there. You can book <a href="http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/speak-up-speak-out-tickets-17979665664" target="_blank">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-37887954924429794052015-09-29T00:02:00.001-07:002015-09-29T04:15:30.270-07:00LGBTQ Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections 2016: Without BordersSorry for the long gap in blog posts, I've been very busy working on my thesis, and much more exciting things, including this!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimp4revSAIq_ALeo3VeI-TJ4xCNmtZoX7KUi3PdfubrdIOH9r0OXD_G0q4WZvY4SP84pHU86sJ_zVrDDtSotGnBqmZeu7RkGrT1iM0XBwKEvtiCVjcGUXhcX0Nl7VdKJzIwwEaln-A4To0/s1600/1509923_1651237031772199_1533838609610807070_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimp4revSAIq_ALeo3VeI-TJ4xCNmtZoX7KUi3PdfubrdIOH9r0OXD_G0q4WZvY4SP84pHU86sJ_zVrDDtSotGnBqmZeu7RkGrT1iM0XBwKEvtiCVjcGUXhcX0Nl7VdKJzIwwEaln-A4To0/s320/1509923_1651237031772199_1533838609610807070_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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You might remember a much <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/lgbti-alms-conference-2012-amsterdam.html" target="_blank">earlier post</a> on this blog from just before I started my PhD, when I mentioned the LGBTI ALMS (Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections) conference in Amsterdam. It was an incredible conference, and I'm so pleased to be a small part of its follow up in summer 2016. I am part of the steering committee, and the conference is hosted by London Metropolitan Archives and the Bishopsgate Institute, and a third institution which is to be announced shortly!<br />
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The call for papers is as follows:<br />
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Deadline for proposals is 8 January 2016:<br />
<br />
<b>WITHOUT BORDERS…</b><br />
Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections (ALMS) 2016<br />
an International LGBTQ+ Conference hosted by the City of London through London Metropolitan Archives in partnership with Bishopsgate Institute.<br />
<br />
Dates: 22 – 24 June 2016<br />
Location: London<br />
<br />
Background<br />
<br />
ALMS is an international conference focussed on the work by public, private, academic, and grassroots organisations which are collecting, capture and preserving archives of LGBTQ+ experiences, to ensure our histories continue to be documented and shared. The conference began in Minnesota in 2006 when the Tretter Collection and Quatrefoil Library co-hosted the first LGBT ALMS Conference. The last conference took place in Amsterdam in 2012 and saw archivists, activists, librarians, museums professionals and academics from around the world coming together to share success stories and discuss challenges involved in recording LGBTQ+ lives.<br />
<br />
CALL FOR PAPERS 2016<br />
<br />
To reflect our emerging global community, the 2016 conference is titled ‘Without Borders’. Papers are invited from across the heritage, cultural, academic and grassroots communities. Our aim is to generate a dialogue within the co-dependent fields of LGBTQ+ historical research and collecting, and share experiences, ideas and best practice through a programme of presentations and short talks that explore margins, borders, barriers and intersections, past and present. Topics may include, but are not limited to:<br />
<br />
• Barriers –in accessing LGBTQ+ content within existing collections, and in collecting material from LGBTQ+ communities<br />
• Intersections – collecting, cataloguing or researching subjects which share multiple / contrasting identities<br />
• Margins – researching elusive or liminal subjects; learning, research or projects taking place outside formal institutions<br />
• Connections – uniting individuals or communities across boundaries through heritage or research<br />
• Border police – navigating the formal standards of the heritage sector, including official terms and language or constructions of identity<br />
<br />
We invite 200 word abstracts offering informal 10-minute presentations that share work-in-progress or provide an introduction to new projects or research that address these themes.<br />
<br />
We also invite 300 word abstracts for 20-minute papers or presentations exploring the themes in more detail.<br />
<br />
We particularly welcome contributions from BME / QPOC (Black Minority Ethnic / Queer People of Colour) and Transgender communities, as well as from those living outside the UK and USA.<br />
<br />
The ALMS conference 2016 is being delivered on a not-for-profit basis by London Metropolitan Archives and Bishopsgate Institute in order to encourage dialogue and share knowledge in LGBTQ+ histories and cultures. The conference is not being funded as part of a wider project and the organisers are unable to cover speakers’ costs except in cases where keynote or invited speakers are prevented from attendance for financial reasons. A limited number of bursaries for attendees will be made available at the beginning of 2016.<br />
<br />
Abstract deadline: Friday 8 January 2016<br />
Abstracts to: jan.pimblett@cityoflondon.gov.uk<br />
<br />
A website will shortly be launched, but in the mean time you can keep an eye out for announcements at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LGBTQALMS" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> and on twitter @<a href="https://twitter.com/LGBTQALMS" target="_blank">LGBTQALMS</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-29114995625551293302015-06-01T05:28:00.001-07:002015-06-01T05:28:54.955-07:00Mapping London's LGBTQ heritageI'm really excited to be involved with this project <a href="http://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/news/0315-historic-england-project/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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The pilot phase, which initially just focuses on London, is currently under way, and it involves a map of London with user-generated pins highlighting spaces of LGBTQ heritage. The project will be rolled out to cover the whole of the UK, and anyone can take part!<br />
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I thought I'd talk you through the (very simple) process with one of my own contributions.<br />
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First of all, go to this page <a href="http://lgbtlondon.wix.com/lgbtlondon" target="_blank">here</a> and scroll down to the map at the bottom.<br />
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Click on the '+' sign at the top right hand corner to add a new pin:<br />
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A new text box will pop up, and will ask you to choose a place name and a location. The place name will appear on the list to the right hand side of the map, so make sure it also includes a little taste of what the post is about if you want more people to look at it! You can either search for a location or choose it by clicking on the map.<br />
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As this is a crowd-sourced project, you're not expected to be a historian to take part, so if you don't know the exact place, put it as close as possible to where you think the spot is (obviously, I don't know where in Green Park Bankes was caught with his trousers down, so I think in this case, anywhere in the park will do). Likewise, if you're not entirely sure about exact dates, just make this clear in the text, and try and give an estimation if you can.<br />
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Also, your entries don't need to be historical, they can be more contemporary, and can be your own interpretation of a site. If there's already a pin on the place you wanted to mention, don't worry, put another one there!<br />
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You then get to choose from a category. Unfortunately at this stage you can only choose one, so use your discretion about which one suits the most. I chose 'Crime and the Law' for this entry because I thought it was the most appropriate for the story I'm telling. Think about who might be searching for this story, and which elements will appeal the most.<br />
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You can also upload a photograph, which I've chosen not to do here.<br />
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When you click 'Submit' this screen appears:<br />
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It is important to copy or make a note of the URL, since the site does not require users to log in or make an account, this is the only way you can edit your entry. Once you've done that, click close and then close the text box, or reset if you wish to add another entry.<br />
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The moderator will then be informed about your contribution, they do not fact check or alter your text unless there is something offensive in there.<br />
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and here is my entry!<br />
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So go here to drop a pin: <a href="http://lgbtlondon.wix.com/lgbtlondon">http://lgbtlondon.wix.com/lgbtlondon</a> and share the link with anyone who might be interested in taking part in this ground breaking Historic England project!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-30948757331369114892015-05-12T04:46:00.002-07:002015-05-12T04:56:10.845-07:00New YorkHello all, sorry for the radio silence, been a bit busy. I thought I'd share some brief thoughts about my visit to New York, which was amazing (but feels like a million years ago now...)<br />
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A few bits of news before I do:<br />
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<li>I did an interview for the Queer East London Project, which you can read <a href="https://queerhistoryofeastlondon.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/interview-sean-curran-of-sutton-house/" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>'Twilight People: stories of faith and gender beyond the binary' is looking for trans and gender variant people of faith to share their stories, see <a href="http://www.twilightpeople.com/" target="_blank">here</a> for more details of how to get involved, it's a groundbreaking project that I feel really privileged to be a part of.</li>
<li>An updated version of my book chapter about LGBTQ oral histories (including PICTURES!) appears in the new MuseumsEtc book '<a href="http://www.museumsetc.com/products/on-sexuality" target="_blank">On Sexuality</a>', it's a really great book that collects together essays about making LGBTQ narratives visible in museums, it's also more reasonably priced than the last one!</li>
<li>I'm part of a really great steering committee for the next LGBTQ+ Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections conference. The last took place in 2012 in Amsterdam, and was incredible, I wrote about it at the time <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/lgbti-alms-conference-2012-amsterdam.html" target="_blank">here</a>. The committee includes archive professionals, artists, academics and activists from Bishopsgate Institute, London Metropolitan Archives, Kingston University, the Institute of Education (that's me), Tower Hamlets Local History Library, rukus! Federation, the Parliamentary Archives, Tate Britain and University College London. I'll keep you posted once the official blog is up and running, but in the meantime, like the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LGBTQALMS" target="_blank">Facebook page here</a>.</li>
<li>I've been recruited as an 'expert advisor' for a new project by Leeds Beckett University and Historic England, which is crowdsourcing pins on a map highlighting LGBTQ history. The trial version is available <a href="http://lgbtlondon.wix.com/lgbtlondon" target="_blank">here</a>. Feel free to add your own pins, although for the trail the map includes only London.</li>
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That's enough of that. On to New York.<br />
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<b>Museum Association of New York: Museums in Action Conference "Museums Mean Business"
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<b>April 12th , Corning Museum of Glass</b><br />
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Myself and Lauren Windham presented a workshop together on the first day of this conference. Initially, it was to be a three person panel, but Ellie Lewis-Nunes was unfortunately unable to make it (I'm hiking with her to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, you can <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/SeanSeanSean" target="_blank">donate here</a>!), so while it was bitter sweet, the talk was still a great success. Our workshop was called 'Addressing the balance' and we spoke about challenges arising when addressing specific community groups in historic buildings in London, and how this can extend to the regular visitor. I spoke about my work with Sutton House, and Lauren spoke about her time at Bruce Castle, and a project she ran with children and their non-English speaking parents. We had some really great questions, and people seemed really engaged with the subject.<br />
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We had a quick chance to poke around the new wing of the museum, and we were blown away. I must admit my expectations of glass museums are based on the one in my hometown of Sunderland, which may be great now, but when I visited it a very long time ago, it was a little dry. This new wing was spectacular, a huge array of really challenging contemporary glasswork in a beautiful naturally lit space, it really was breathtaking.<br />
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<b>Bjork at MOMA</b><br />
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I am a huge Bjork fan, like worryingly huge. I have her words tattooed on my flesh (as well as the swan from Vespertine) and I've seen her live 6 times now (7 in July!), she truly is my idol and this exhibition felt like a pilgrimage for me. Four of her instruments, which I'd previously seen live on her Biophilia tour, were dotted around the museum atrium and removed from their natural context, it became even more clear what beautiful works of art they are, especially the pendulum harp.<br />
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The first part of the exhibition was an immersive screening of the MOMA commissioned video for Black Lake, which is the centrepiece of her new album Vulnicura. At ten minutes long, Black Lake is sparse and heartbreaking, probably Bjork's most personal and vulnerable song to date. The video is understated, it features her walking around barefoot in the inside of a volcano, and only in the final minute or so does she surface to the moonlike mossy Iceland surface. The video is projected on two walls that are often in sync, but often show different things, and the small space they were played in was made to recreate the inside of a volcano, with crater-like protrusions lining the wall. The room had nearly 50 speakers, and we saw the film twice (I cried both times haha), the first time, everyone was sitting on the floor, which I thought was weird, and the second time, people stood and moved around the space. There's a particular moment in the film during a long 30 second drawn out note from the strings, where Bjork, on her knees, pounds violently at her chest as if she is trying to restart her heart. I glanced around and it was really moving to see so many glistening eyes reflected from the glow of the screen. For me, if you can't see an artist live, surely this is the ideal way to experience music, it was a staggering achievement.<br />
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The next part was the Bjork cinema, a room filled with red velvet cushions to lay on where they play all of Bjork's music videos in chronological order. We spent about 40 minutes in there, I have seen all of those videos countless times, but it was a whole new experience to see them in this setting.<br />
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The final part was the timed-ticket section called 'Songlines', in which a fictional story about a woman moving through the albums of Bjork is whispered in your ears alongside snippets of her songs. It was a really creative and unusual way of telling the story of Bjork's music, and of the strongly defined characters she creates for each of her albums. In each room, which corresponded to an album, were costumes and props from videos and live performances and Bjork's notebooks.<br />
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The exhibition completely lived up to my expectations, and the Black Lake screening in particular completely surpassed it. I'm not sure I'll ever love an exhibition as much as I loved this one, it truly felt like a religious experience.<br />
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(here's me gazing lovingly at the bell dress from the Who Is It? video)<br />
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<b>9/11 Memorial Museum</b><br />
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Lauren left to go back to Washington, it was really great to catch up with her after so long (she and I studied on our MA together), she is one of my heritage idols and a continued source of inspiration to me. I had a day on my own before my housemate arrived to stay for a week, so I went to see the 9/11 Memorial Museum. I was expecting it to be problematic to be honest, I imagined it would be extremely patriotic and Islamophobic, but I was very pleasantly surprised at how tasteful and moving it was, it was purely a commemoration of those lost in the attacks, and the interpretation combined stark monuments, rich and compassionate storytelling, and some really visually powerful moments (especially the missing posters that were projected onto one of the walls and gradually faded in and out). The fountains themselves were really beautiful too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNM-1Avrcv1yJfYGkjsjJMuhlL2AT4Ffztm9rUgQTBuRi1OOMiLwDabzYi5u3Ywq04UmP1q62ndG3ehIjEAfABKxuNPcCjRqmU7j_eLEM-DbWB4We4RAYC7xDcKR1pR41Zu9RjHs2xhpp/s1600/IMG_3815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNM-1Avrcv1yJfYGkjsjJMuhlL2AT4Ffztm9rUgQTBuRi1OOMiLwDabzYi5u3Ywq04UmP1q62ndG3ehIjEAfABKxuNPcCjRqmU7j_eLEM-DbWB4We4RAYC7xDcKR1pR41Zu9RjHs2xhpp/s320/IMG_3815.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Two really interesting points (from a museum studies student perspective...); firstly, there was a recording studio for visitors to record their memories and thoughts about the day, these were then projected onto a long screen and was really beautifully done. Secondly, I've never experienced such a raw and solemn audience before, I'm a terrible eavesdropper in museums, as I think it's a good lazy research tool, but in this museum the conversations were much more personal than usual, everyone remembers where they were that day, and everyone was very visibly moved and at times uncomfortable. The museum even had tissue dispensers at parts of the main exhibition, it was quite unlike anything I'd seen before.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4noYftVTnnlLqaFnGk0LTNNZi6qWxg_sILSeVBiVXoRBKZpCYcUfeaxcE5ycXmpNPSxFSswZA5ALXrlJgw9APxscuBJGl0DnAUyZGdEAmPP3tttjV_0s430p4hqvSbx8O-cu3WWPQd8qL/s1600/IMG_3772.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4noYftVTnnlLqaFnGk0LTNNZi6qWxg_sILSeVBiVXoRBKZpCYcUfeaxcE5ycXmpNPSxFSswZA5ALXrlJgw9APxscuBJGl0DnAUyZGdEAmPP3tttjV_0s430p4hqvSbx8O-cu3WWPQd8qL/s320/IMG_3772.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtVyAcJtF9zLW5muQtlkdoE9foB2C3j_NeDcJxnnTBW-yILum5BsN5igcaby0r-MPerrAO-TwFhSk8hzeGXn9lf6nR5nyU7bXwWWHLHcpENFPwgPQlfZJKxIXefKcFDzuknHV8_kebOCN/s1600/IMG_3790.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXtVyAcJtF9zLW5muQtlkdoE9foB2C3j_NeDcJxnnTBW-yILum5BsN5igcaby0r-MPerrAO-TwFhSk8hzeGXn9lf6nR5nyU7bXwWWHLHcpENFPwgPQlfZJKxIXefKcFDzuknHV8_kebOCN/s320/IMG_3790.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art</b><br />
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One of the smaller treats we had was the Leslie Lohman, which is a really nice space devoted to LGBTQ art and artists. The mission statement reads: 'The Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art is the first dedicated LGBTQ art museum in the world with a mission to exhibit and preserve LGBTQ art, and foster the artists who create it The Leslie-Lohman Museum embraces the rich creative history of the LGBTQ art community by educating, informing, inspiring, entertaining, and challenging all who enter its doors.
The Museum is operated by the Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation, Inc., a non-profit founded in 1987 by Charles W. Leslie and Fritz Lohman who have supported LGBTQ artists for over 30 years.'<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUFO6s2fwrSOihd4jLWo7BndokIMHgxelyjvcTyLEfqqpu5ZSYATIy8-xNFk-LbJ8fgvfTCiNigUS_F0Zao7psXyPE6HqY_Eaydxkfe_xREIo43TANOQYazh7aKIcq212WfVv-zI8Ec_W/s1600/IMG_3948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUFO6s2fwrSOihd4jLWo7BndokIMHgxelyjvcTyLEfqqpu5ZSYATIy8-xNFk-LbJ8fgvfTCiNigUS_F0Zao7psXyPE6HqY_Eaydxkfe_xREIo43TANOQYazh7aKIcq212WfVv-zI8Ec_W/s320/IMG_3948.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFMeYy8n_hO66ns3GG2a-TudTbYeFwpvhDw9P7u9qUYyc9Ecs4XduMHvBE9GK8GGvZhQ1IRzDex760Keacba4SSGXFjGFRUbWdeZ4wYMgssU_wxWkdGzpkKO-qVKQBugHC-yZVqg91m7H/s1600/IMG_3863.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFMeYy8n_hO66ns3GG2a-TudTbYeFwpvhDw9P7u9qUYyc9Ecs4XduMHvBE9GK8GGvZhQ1IRzDex760Keacba4SSGXFjGFRUbWdeZ4wYMgssU_wxWkdGzpkKO-qVKQBugHC-yZVqg91m7H/s320/IMG_3863.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The exhibition we saw was called 'Irreverent: a celebration of censorship'. The museum hosts up to 8 exhibitions a year, which is pretty remarkable for a non-profit venture, it was also one of the very few free museums we visited, which seems like a rare treat in New York, where entry to most museums is in excess of $15. I really wish there was an equivalent to this in London.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsSDxJRAeoBNN-COIaT-UrQxURdmgfddG7uBPKRJzXKjQatw37KImQP6IgNSSjDSVgeKP-XmcOqQt3ULhiMhjeRiBYKeoJJK7MoM_Bbnu-h27gcIzJD6RyjlNGhnJiJc7A-23K23AwnCZR/s1600/IMG_3950.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsSDxJRAeoBNN-COIaT-UrQxURdmgfddG7uBPKRJzXKjQatw37KImQP6IgNSSjDSVgeKP-XmcOqQt3ULhiMhjeRiBYKeoJJK7MoM_Bbnu-h27gcIzJD6RyjlNGhnJiJc7A-23K23AwnCZR/s320/IMG_3950.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2iTK2oxArtnHcGhfntZu7omjvzs3bVguGXURY6GXZALqOrLxSDFmO7xOs_t_t00mQyaNh-YmNe_noLoCTiD4NNKDMG7nfWigqp7PhFQrCboouJKHSZiMPHs6CvKGe0sbabjtqCTiaPj1k/s1600/IMG_3951.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2iTK2oxArtnHcGhfntZu7omjvzs3bVguGXURY6GXZALqOrLxSDFmO7xOs_t_t00mQyaNh-YmNe_noLoCTiD4NNKDMG7nfWigqp7PhFQrCboouJKHSZiMPHs6CvKGe0sbabjtqCTiaPj1k/s320/IMG_3951.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<b>Brooklyn Museum</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq378cNa9YRTx6e5X-Nui3KIrINKU8o_j_zR2S7PZrSaHjWdWE86VxuqPs114oISTC9igt98G7OZ9dOvu8PXxOSN_3gF9GpZwpnsB4go9KYh_BqbxW-rmtE2j2CvszgYfCcwyFVBF7JF1J/s1600/IMG_4323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq378cNa9YRTx6e5X-Nui3KIrINKU8o_j_zR2S7PZrSaHjWdWE86VxuqPs114oISTC9igt98G7OZ9dOvu8PXxOSN_3gF9GpZwpnsB4go9KYh_BqbxW-rmtE2j2CvszgYfCcwyFVBF7JF1J/s320/IMG_4323.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I think my favourite museum overall was the Brooklyn Museum. Lauren had recommended I go and see the Kehinde Wiley exhibition there, and the museum was already on my housemate's to do list. It is one of the best art exhibitions I have seen in ages. Wiley paints huge portraits of people of colour in classic heroic poses, with rich and florid patterned backgrounds. They really are incredible, and the exhibition also featured work on stained glass and sculpture. We also saw the Jean-Michel Basquiat 'Unknown Notebooks exhibition' and looked around the permanent collections. It was great to see a museum genuinely privileging its local artists, and especially exciting to see people of colour represented on such a scale in such a huge museum.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJfhxmLyehsxYWYPi8fKgWqDBrn_eCCwaUDqRUxCYMn7p6lj3X1-kxuJc6KWvpQx638NuLc5guX3HlpKAD_9aMRpxRKcHqxPBPzXbj6pTFDbLDd6hJ2uqp5VU1_rLe_pPMZe3Eo3UPjZN/s1600/IMG_4284.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJfhxmLyehsxYWYPi8fKgWqDBrn_eCCwaUDqRUxCYMn7p6lj3X1-kxuJc6KWvpQx638NuLc5guX3HlpKAD_9aMRpxRKcHqxPBPzXbj6pTFDbLDd6hJ2uqp5VU1_rLe_pPMZe3Eo3UPjZN/s320/IMG_4284.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwOrqhStye-rTGfI12QadAq7xqbsQdfiC5myRzGn82AFqy1NRRu9co5_Sz0HSSDzNq9t3MXSkgzU4lHEEIu3FN5zjEa6kSOS7Sc_VwlyLQhOPcBGnZGbpGt4ayMvi5oK46APHFtcsn221/s1600/IMG_4328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwOrqhStye-rTGfI12QadAq7xqbsQdfiC5myRzGn82AFqy1NRRu9co5_Sz0HSSDzNq9t3MXSkgzU4lHEEIu3FN5zjEa6kSOS7Sc_VwlyLQhOPcBGnZGbpGt4ayMvi5oK46APHFtcsn221/s320/IMG_4328.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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These are just a few of the things we saw, we also saw a small exhibition of Keith Haring's work, the American Folk Art Museum, the Museum of Morbid Curiosity (which was a HUGE disappointment), the Museum of Sex, the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (which a lovely couple kindly gave us their tickets for so we didn't have to pay!), a super cute little museum at Coney Island, and Lauren and I had a little tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<br />
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If you get the chance to go to New York, definitely do! It was incredible and I hope I get the opportunity to go back one day, I feel like we only scratched the surface!<br />
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Here's a little bonus picture of me admiring some of the art at the American Folk Art Museum:<br />
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(I've said this before, but blogspot really isn't built for lots of pictures, so please excuse the messy formatting of this, especially if you're viewing on a phone...)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-2978013897424732932015-04-24T10:39:00.000-07:002015-04-24T10:39:47.759-07:00Home and art: creating, performing and researching homeJust a quickie to say I'll be speaking at this event on Friday 1st May. I realised I'm posting this too late to entice anyone to it, as the registration period has closed, (I've just got back from a conference in New York which I'll blog about shortly) but I thought I'd share anyway, as it promises to be a really interesting day.<br />
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<b>HOME AND ART: CREATING, PERFORMING AND RESEARCHING HOME</b><br />
Friday 1st May 2015<br />
The Geffrye Museum of the Home, London
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<b>Programme
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10.00-10.15<br />
<u>Registration and Introduction</u><br />
Richard Baxter and Olivia Sheringham<br />
<i>Queen Mary University of London </i><br />
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10.15-11.00<br />
<u>Keynote </u><br />
Gill Perry<br />
<i>The Open University </i><br />
Breaking and Entering the Home: Practices, Problems and Definitions in Contemporary Art
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11.00-12.20<br />
<u>Inside Home</u><br />
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Vanessa Marr<br />
<i>Artist and University of Brighton/Sussex Coast College </i><br />
Women and domesticity: investigating common experiences and perspectives through creative collaboration. A collection of hand-embroidered dusters<br />
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Sarah McAdam<br />
<i>Photographer and London College of Communication </i><br />
Home is Where the Art is<br />
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Cate Hursthouse<br />
<i>Artist and University of Hertfordshire </i><br />
Unmaking the homely: de-familiarising the tablecloth<br />
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Laura Cuch<br />
<i>Artist and University College London </i><br />
'The Best Place in the World': a biography of home<br />
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12.20-13.00<br />
<u>Lunch</u><br />
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13.00-13.40<br />
<u>Keynote</u><br />
Sutapa Biswas<br />
<i>Artist </i><br />
Home and Hearth / Hearth and home. Love in a cold climate<br />
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13.40-15.00<br />
<u>Domestic Marginality</u><br />
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Sean Curran<br />
<i>Curator and UCL Institute of Education</i><br />
Queer activism begins at home: the curator as activist in historic houses<br />
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Janetka Platun<br />
<i>Artist </i><br />
But where is home? <br />
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Alice Correia<br />
<i>University of Salford </i><br />
The House that Jack Built: Home, Identity and Legacies of Empire in the work of Donald Rodney<br />
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David Pinder<br />
<i>Queen Mary University of London </i><br />
‘If my house was still there’: sound, memory and the destruction of home<br />
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15.00-15.20<br />
<u>Tea and coffee</u><br />
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15.20-16.40<br />
<u>Performing Home</u><br />
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Jon Orlek, Mark Parsons and Cristina Cerrulli<br />
<i>University of Sheffield and Studio Polpo </i><br />
Open Public Experimental Residential Activity (OPERA): Looking Back and Looking Forwards<br />
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Paul Merchant<br />
<i>University of Cambridge </i><br />
Who can publicise the private? Domesticity, representation and class in ‘El hombre de al lado’<br />
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Nadege Meriau<br />
<i>Artist-in-residence Queen Mary University of London </i><br />
Home futures: exploring the Aylesbury Estate through video and sculpture<br />
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Katie Beswick<br />
<i>Queen Mary University of London</i><br />
The Resident Artist: Jordan McKenzie’s Council Estate Practice<br />
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16.40-17.00<br />
<u>Closing Remarks</u><br />
Harriet Hawkins<br />
<i>Royal Holloway University of London </i><br />
Collaboration and curationUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-25583396082920835692015-04-06T07:57:00.001-07:002015-04-06T07:58:23.574-07:00all 126 LGBTQ sonnet videos now onlineI have finally put all of the contributions to the <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/p/126.html" target="_blank">126 LGBTQ sonnet project</a> online. <b><u>You can view them all in this album <a href="https://vimeo.com/album/3336302/sort:alphabetical/format:thumbnail" target="_blank">here</a></u></b>. I'm looking into potential ways of displaying them, perhaps with a dedicated website, but for now they are all there for your viewing pleasure.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeJSSeVkbRaC4iLhhLzpvYBavYJlPnSeVRiCxh67xvHislSX-051_1uaU0rOtqr1ViyWod_pRUlJzZ_jfe0ipLkqqhugTZQRP-v2aZ0pGs3tEyNNwCQggs1S8vF-ko3zQ83eLt2wcrC-G/s1600/IMG_2796.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeJSSeVkbRaC4iLhhLzpvYBavYJlPnSeVRiCxh67xvHislSX-051_1uaU0rOtqr1ViyWod_pRUlJzZ_jfe0ipLkqqhugTZQRP-v2aZ0pGs3tEyNNwCQggs1S8vF-ko3zQ83eLt2wcrC-G/s1600/IMG_2796.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The exhibition at Sutton House has finished and it was a great success. I was sad to see it go, but looking forward to writing about it for my thesis, and I don't think this is the end of the project, I am hoping to edit them in to a second version of the film and to continue to look for opportunities to screen it to make sure it can be seen by as many people as possible.<br />
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I want to extend my thanks again to the staff at Sutton House, but especially to the 125 (I was the 126th!) volunteers who gave up their time to contribute so creatively and generously to this project. I am overwhelmed and moved by the contributions, which range from funny to really moving. All of them are brilliant. Visibility is still really political for queer people, so we have all done something towards ensuring that we are seen and heard, and I think that's a beautiful thing. I'm also delighted to have met so many of the contributors since, at Sutton House, <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/p/126-film-screening-at-queer-and-now.html" target="_blank">the V&A</a> and various other queer events. I never imagined this project would help me feel so much more a part of the queer community, and that I would make so many friends through it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNeZwDTyaTCLVZkuly4hErIp9VeKVWLIfdcN4SLClL8g5yEmbB62zHQL-wh_zY7cLQGV5X-SOwt4Pyf9N51rBKeLbnDVHkn4Tx7iy49GEYxjxFx4PIyE2lTVHDKZfTJcpUuw2J2kv7cI7/s1600/IMG_2936.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNeZwDTyaTCLVZkuly4hErIp9VeKVWLIfdcN4SLClL8g5yEmbB62zHQL-wh_zY7cLQGV5X-SOwt4Pyf9N51rBKeLbnDVHkn4Tx7iy49GEYxjxFx4PIyE2lTVHDKZfTJcpUuw2J2kv7cI7/s1600/IMG_2936.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a><br />
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I'm really excited that the exhibition had <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/never-underestimate-the-power-of-the-national-trust-10139814.html" target="_blank">a brief mention in an article in the Independent</a>. Unfortunately it was only two days before the exhibition ended, meaning that it wasn't an effective marketing device, but still great to have been noticed, and I hope the higher ups in the National Trust are paying attention to our success.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbZUdVby30H0fbX56CwKxOUIcYfliBeBNjCnR3ruCeM-4O8WaE78RLGSp_HMLaKrEKienGATSUSd4u2cZZ1QIEuTkGeGiX6Y83JWy_vel9sPL8GR-c0oADnWhIRoeYO5b-IfyltEKWzOzT/s1600/IMG_2822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbZUdVby30H0fbX56CwKxOUIcYfliBeBNjCnR3ruCeM-4O8WaE78RLGSp_HMLaKrEKienGATSUSd4u2cZZ1QIEuTkGeGiX6Y83JWy_vel9sPL8GR-c0oADnWhIRoeYO5b-IfyltEKWzOzT/s1600/IMG_2822.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a><br />
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Special thanks to <a href="http://www.alexcreep.co.uk/" target="_blank">Alex Creep</a>, who has put up with me being quite insufferably stressy during the build up to the exhibition! and who also made the <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/126-exhibition-poster.html" target="_blank">beautiful poster</a> for the exhibition.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-45449547333025736532015-04-02T06:02:00.001-07:002015-04-02T06:02:38.972-07:00Print your own Mary Lobb zine!You may have seen a few months ago I made a zine about Mary Lobb and the sound piece I made to accompany it, in response to the lack of mention of her and her relationship with May Morris at Kelmscott Manor (you can see the original posts about it <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/a-letter-to-kelmscott-manor.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/kelmscott-manor-reply.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-village-folk-had-lot-to-say-about.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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I'd now like to share a print-your-own PDF of the zine!<br />
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Follow this link <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B736ZOca7PfoWXl5QnBTbVZxZWs/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a><br />
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Then download the PDF (from the link along the top menu bar) and once downloaded, select 'print' and select 'print on both sides' and make sure to select the option to flip on the side edge, as otherwise the pages will be upside down. Obviously the PDF will look a bit jumbled, as the pages are in an order to ensure it can be printed as an A5 booklet. Once it is printed, fold in the middle, and hopefully all the pages should be in the correct order!<br />
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The sound piece to accompany the zine is here:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/187942068&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>
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Thanks again to Joe and Ellie Lewis-Nunes for patiently lending their voices and recording skills.<br />
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Please share this with anyone who might be interested- and enjoy! Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-54804281619000774862015-03-31T04:40:00.001-07:002015-03-31T04:50:27.783-07:00BFI Flare: LGBT Film Festival 2015 The BFI Flare festival is over, and I just thought I'd plug a few of my favourite films that I saw.<br />
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<b>Something Must Break</b><br />
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I saw this film at the BFI London Film Festival in Late 2014, and I'm pleased I got to see it again, it stars Saga Becker (who won best actress at the Guldbaggegalan 2015 awards ceremony, becoming the first trans woman to do so) as a non-binary trans person. It's empowering and beautiful, and along with other lead Iggy Malmborg, the acting is phenomenal. Becker's portrayal of Sebastian/Ellie is one of the most relatable characters I've ever seen in a film. It's a triumph and is hitting UK cinemas in April, so make sure you check it out.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CS2daR-OXaY" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Also, I'm absolutely delighted that the incredible Saga Becker agreed to be part of my exhibition 126 at Sutton House. You can see her contribution here:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/120285328" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>
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My other favourites included:<br />
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<b>We came to sweat</b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ktB-X6Fcc4s" width="560"></iframe><br />
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This was a particularly topical documentary given how gentrification in East London and beyond are seeing the closure of many queer venues, including the Joiners Arms. This film looks at the Starlite, the oldest gay bar in Brooklyn that was particularly important as it offered a safe space and community for LGBTQ people of colour. The building that housed the Starlite was bought without them knowing, and the film deals with the campaign to save it, as well as documenting the community that has been built there, and the legacy of the venue. It's a very moving film with an excellent soundtrack and documents a really important part of black LGBTQ culture.<br />
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<b>In the turn</b><br />
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This was the huge surprise of the festival for me. I knew nothing about Roller Derby, and frankly wasn't that interested, but the film is about more than sport, it's about the power of a community that values respect, kindness and warmth. The film is framed around the story of a ten year old trans girl called Crystal, whose mother reaches out to Roller Derby collective Vagine Regime, after Crystal is no longer allowed to participate in team sports at her school, because of the staff's discomfort and inability to deal with a trans student. The Vagine Regime, who are a queer international community, raise money to help Crystal attend a Roller Derby camp, where she can play with girls her own age for the first time. I balled happy tears for so much of the film, it's so positive to see what a beautiful thing the queer community is when you see it depicted so carefully on a big screen.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ONcmU6pF2Fw" width="560"></iframe><br />
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The trailer is perhaps a bit deceptively bleak, but alongside the sad stories of suffering, is an overwhelming sense of hope and positivity. We were lucky enough to meet the director Erica Tremblay, who is a complete babe and super humble, and seems genuinely overwhelmed with how well the film is being received. It's a definite must see.<br />
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And here are a couple of my favourite shorts:<br />
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<b>Sticks and Stones: Bambi Lake</b><br />
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A documentary about Bambi Lake, I can't find a trailer for this, but it was the first film in the Transcenders shorts, and the series ended with the incredible Justin Vivian Bond covering one of Bambi's songs, there's a bit of footage from the documentary in the music video:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fwr0pFho32E" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<b>Last time I saw Richard</b><br />
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Creepy queer horror- my favourite genre<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/54115607" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/54115607">The Last Time I Saw Richard - Trailer</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/nicholasverso">Nicholas Verso</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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Some honourable mentions: <a href="https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/flare/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=hiddenaway" target="_blank">Hidden Away</a>, <a href="http://www.drunktownsfinest.com/" target="_blank">Drunktown's Finest</a>, and <a href="http://www.thisisthenest.com/sool/" target="_blank">Stories of our lives</a><br />
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My favourite thing about BFI Flare is what a lovely space the BFI becomes for a fortnight. It's like a glimpse of what a lovely, safe and respectful queer utopia looks like.<br />
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Roll on next year!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-61167653756703429692015-03-23T05:16:00.000-07:002015-03-23T05:17:07.563-07:00Museum Association of New York: Museums in Action Conference "Museums Mean Business"I'm really excited to be part of a panel at the Museum Association of New York's annual Museums in Action Conference at the Corning Museum of Glass on the 12th of April.<br />
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Our panel takes place on Sunday 12th at 14.30, here are the details:<br />
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<b>Title: </b><br />
Addressing the balance: negotiating potential conflicts between the regular visitor and specific community groups in historic buildings- UK and US perspectives<br />
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<b>Facilitators: </b><br />
Lauren Windham (museum educator and historic guide at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C), Ellie Lewis-Nunes (heritage educator at Ealing Council in West London, covering parks and open spaces and two historic houses; Gunnersbury Park Museum, Pitzhanger Manor), Sean Curran (PhD student at UCL IOE and curator/volunteer with the National Trust)<br />
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<b>Panel description: </b><br />
This session aims to address potential challenges in negotiating the balance between creating innovative and thoughtful programming tailored to specific diverse audience groups, and programming with regular local visitors. The session will aim to provoke discussion about best practice and experience sharing through three innovative and adaptable case studies from historic buildings in London, England. Ellie Lewis-Nunes will discuss engaging 14-21 year olds in exhibitions and programming at Gunnersbury Park Museum, Sean Curran will discuss the challenges of unearthing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender narratives at Sutton House, and Lauren Windham will discuss meeting the needs of international visitors and their differing roles as both tourists and immigrant populations in a community and their impact on programming. Lauren will transition from UK to US museums in her current work back in The States, which will then lead into a facilitator led discussion where participants will be invited to share experiences of working with diverse audience groups.<br />
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This is a great opportunity to share my research with an international audience, and to sample some of the museums New York has to offer, and I'm really looking forward to being reunited with, and working with Lauren and Ellie, who I met on the Museums and Galleries in Education MA at the IOE. I think it's going to be a really great workshop and I'm looking forward to meeting those who attend.<br />
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You can see the full programme <a href="http://manyonline.org/events/schedule" target="_blank">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-82352283529374131852015-03-11T11:58:00.000-07:002015-03-11T11:58:08.863-07:00Feminism, Gender and Sexuality Seminar Series, UCL IOEAs part of the UCL Institute of Education Feminism, Gender and Sexuality seminar series, I'll be presenting some of my doctoral work in progress.<br />
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Thursday 19th March 5.30 – 7pm: Room 539, 20 Bedford Way<br />
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<b>The Great Wings of Silence: Queer Activism in Heritage Sites </b><br />
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Sean Curran, IOE<br />
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Here's the blurb:<br />
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Sean will present from their research about addressing the silence of LGBTQ narratives in heritage sites, using their own curatorial practice at the National Trust’s Sutton House in Hackney as a case study. Sean will raise questions about the roles of curators, artists and activists in challenging dominant narratives in public history and will present initial findings from a survey conducted with participants of a crowd-sourced LGBTQ intervention and will reflect on the challenges arising from practice-based research.<br />
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Evening session followed by informal drinks in the Student Union Bar (level 3)<br />
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<b>About the Feminism, Gender and Sexuality Seminar Series</b><br />
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Organisers:
Jenny Parkes, Emily Henderson, Charley Nussey, Claudia Lapping, Annette Braun<br />
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This group is designed for research students and staff to explore their work around feminism, gender and sexuality. We meet informally about three times a term, twice during lunchtimes and once during the evening; at each session a speaker is invited to reflect upon their ideas as they develop, and to use the discussion space for the exploration of their own questions. Session topics located within diverse disciplines are encouraged. At least one seminar each term addresses LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer) research. The session to be held in the evening will be followed by drinks in the bar.<br />
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To join the seminar series list contact j.parkes@ioe.ac.uk<br />
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(the image is from an old Penguin edition of Woolf's Orlando, which is where the 'great wings' quote comes from)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5345211110600105439.post-68519851775277600992015-02-28T03:49:00.001-08:002015-02-28T03:49:57.333-08:00Twilight People: Stories of faith and gender beyond the binary - volunteer opportunity!Last week, the steering committee for <b>Twilight People: Stories of faith and gender beyond the binary</b> met for the first time. I was delighted to be invited to be part of this amazing project as exhibition co-curator and steering committee member by Surat-Shaan, who is the project leader following the really successful <a href="http://www.rainbowjews.com/" target="_blank">Rainbow Jews</a> project.<br />
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This is a groundbreaking new oral history project, recording and showcasing for the first time in the UK the stories and experiences of transgender and gender variant people of faith. Throughout the project there will be loads of volunteering opportunities including archive researchers, transcribers, sound/video editors, video/photographers, admin support, exhibition curators, youth forum members, media/social media volunteers and many other roles.<br />
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The first roles we need to fill are the Oral History Interviewers.<br />
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Oral history is about recording people’s memories using the medium of sound and video. This can be used as a tool for understanding the recent past, and enables people who have been hidden from history to be heard and the communities they represent.<br />
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<b>Interviewer Role Description</b><br />
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To carry out oral history interviews with trans* people of faith, using a topic guide (i.e.. a list of prepared questions) which will be created as part of the course. Each interview will last approximately 1.5 hours. This may also involve travelling to various parts of the UK to interview participants, but all expenses will be covered, and travelling outside of London is completely negotiable.<br />
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<b>Person Specification</b><br />
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In order to carry out the oral history interviewer role, you’ll need: an interest in LGBT history; literacy skills; organisational skills; to demonstrate an interest in equality/diversity and religion/spirituality; to be able (with training) to use recording equipment; to be able to travel in order to interview.<br />
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<b>Time Commitment</b><br />
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In order to be able to take part in the project, you must be available for training, which will be on 19 April 2015, daytime, (tbc) Central London. Volunteering period: a minimum of 6 months. The amount of hours you wish to volunteer are negotiable, from a minimum of 5 days commitment.<br />
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Limited places available<br />
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For further information or to apply email project manager Surat-Shaan Knan via s.knan@liberaljudaism.org or call Liberal Judaism main line: 020 7580 1663 (office hours)<br />
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The <a href="http://www.twilightpeople.com/" target="_blank">Twilight People website</a> will be launched imminently, and in the meantime, please 'like' the project on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/twilightpeopleproject" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and follow us on Twitter @<a href="https://twitter.com/TwilightPeople2" target="_blank">TwilightPeople2</a><br />
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Please share this call for volunteers widely, you can email me at scurran@ioe.ac.uk if you want the PDF of the flyer and the full role details.<br />
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