Angela’s Account

I sought out Angela online after researching the Museum of Croydon’s former Lifetimes collection. Since the 1990’s, the team had begun to conduct collecting projects with local black, Asian and Irish people but not with the LGBT+ community. By 1995 they started a new collecting project with lesbians and gay men. I wanted to find out what the experience was like for the people who ran such a trailblazing project 25 years ago.

The following donation was received by email in August 2020 and features text and image by Angela Vanegas

“In keeping with our existing methodology, we employed people who identified as such to interview those from the local communities. Luckily, Jon Brown already worked for Croydon Museum Service, but Rachel Hasted was specifically recruited for the project.

Both Rachel and Jon used life story interviewing to uncover the memories and belongings important to the interviewees themselves. They were not interviewed exclusively about themes relating to their sexuality. This allowed them to select those aspects of their lives that they felt were important. One woman chose objects representing her childhood in Jamaica, her teenage attempt to become a nun and her battle with Crohn's disease.

We were delayed in exhibiting this material when the company that made our touchscreen interactives was unable to do the update. To avoid disappointing our contributors, we decided to mount three temporary art exhibitions: “Communion”, photographs by Rotimi Fani Kayode; ‘Ain't Ya Hungry’, work by lesbian photographers; and ‘Dyke's Delight’, paintings from our own collection, chosen and captioned by local lesbians. We had to obtain the approval of the councillors, but this was usually a formality.

Several councillors were against the exhibitions taking place and asked for legal advice. The legal team decided that the exhibition would contravene Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988) and could not take place. One of our union reps, Nicky was so outraged that she asked for a high-level meeting. It was suggested that exhibitions could go ahead without using the words lesbian and gay. She countered that instead of worrying about the ‘bigoted few’, they should have the courage to be the champions of an oppressed group. And because she stood up to them, the exhibitions went ahead, uncensored.

We had a wonderful opening. Ray Harvey Amer, in the habit of a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence, blessed the displays and Nicky sang a song about how glad she was to be a dyke. We weren't prosecuted under Section 28 and most comments were complimentary.”

by Angela Vanegas