Bold.
Reclaiming Space
My interactions with Ray had taught me about evoking inspiration in queer people by being visible and rising-up in the face of adversity. While he was fighting against Section 28 (introduced in 1988) I had been educated under it. Until our conversation I had not realised how much LGBT+ history was conspicuously missing from my education. This may explain why I felt so strongly drawn to Ray’s handbag when I first visited the museum. Researching my own community’s history was the first step.
As LGBT+ community gained equality, councils began looking at ways to educate schoolchildren about homosexuality and there was the establishment of gay focus groups within local authorities, such as Haringey Council where a Lesbian and Gay Unit was launched. A controversial teaching resource was made available, titled ‘Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin’ by Susanne Bösche, about a girl who lives with her two gay dads. This resulted in some backlash and soon after the government brought in Section 28 which prevented local authorities from ‘promoting’ homosexuality. The fear of contravening Section 28 suppressed the subject across a range of cultural services including museums and libraries for 15 years until it’s repeal in 2003.
It was a great comfort to see Ray’s handbag, an object from my community, first placed on public display in 2001. It felt like an acknowledgement that my sexuality was valid and culturally significant. I wanted to replicate that feeling for other queer people in Croydon so I decided to curate an exhibition of artworks by gay, bi and queer artists in the public atrium of the Croydon Clocktower, naming it ‘Bold.’.
Bona Polari
I decided that the exhibition’s theme would be ‘identity’ so that the artists felt free to express ideas about their sexuality alongside other themes. By incorporating my LGBT+ history research into the exhibition branding, I could reconnect with the past and shine a light on the gay men who had been oppressed by homophobic attitudes. In the 1950’s when homosexuality was still illegal, gay men used secret codes and languages to communicate with each other without publicly disclosing their sexuality. ‘Polari’ combined rhyming slang with influences from Romani, Italian and Yiddish. This was famously used by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams in their roles as Julian and Sandy on the BBC radio programme Round the Horne.
Here are some more examples of Polari terms:
bevvy = drink (or possibly an abbreviation of beverage, or both)
bijou = small
bimbo = dupe
camp = excessive or showy
dona = woman (hence the Australian slang word donah)
drag = clothes
fantabulosa = excellent
lally = leg
lattie = house / lodgings
leucoddy = body
naph/naff = bad
nante = none or nothing
ogle = eye
omi = man
omipalone = homosexual
palare = talk
palone = woman
riah = hair troll, = walk / wander
walloper = dancer
zhoosh = fix / tidy
To be ‘bold’ is a description of someone who is daring or plucky, and in Polari this could also mean ‘conspicuously homosexual’. Being overtly gay was a brave thing to be at a time when homosexuality was still punishable with prison time and a criminal record. I decided to call the show ‘Bold’ to venerate the bravery of those who are openly gay - particularly the artists featured whose work was also deeply personal.
“oooh in’t he bold!”
Pink Triangles
The pride flag is arguably the most recognisable symbol of the LGBT+ community, however the pink triangle has its own history of symbolism. Originally used by Nazis during the Second World War, the pale pink triangle was sewn to the breast pockets of men accused of being homosexual. These men were treated particularly badly in the concentration camps, and by the time they were liberated by the allies, many would find themselves back in jail due to their sexuality.
A German gay rights movement ‘Homosexuelle Aktion Westberlin’ (HAW) re-appropriated the triangle in the 1970s to campaign for compensation of the mis-treatment of homosexual people. Gradually other gay rights organisations began to use the symbol and it was reclaimed. LGBT+ groups in Britain inverted the triangle and used it to commemorate persecution, and eventually the pink triangle became a symbol of anti-homophobia and gay pride. I found a few examples of pink triangles in Ray’s collection of pin badges on display in the Museum.
‘Ray’s badges’, Museum of Croydon LGBT trail. (T/1052)
These badges were worn on protests in the 80s and 90s to show solidarity with a variety of organisations and causes. A badge is an identifying symbol, a show of support and something that can be worn proudly on the chest like a medal. Badges are a subtle but creative way for an individual to show that they belong to something much larger than themselves – it communicates a position, an opinion, an affiliation. After incorporating the pink triangle into the exhibition logo, I decided to turn the design into a badge for exhibitors and supporters of the exhibition to wear. The badges were a statement about queer identity; an acknowledgement of past struggles, worn by the people who represent and support a more hopeful future for the LGBT+ community.
Mark Goldby producing ‘Bold.’ badges.
‘Bold.’ badge by Mark Goldby.
Marie Tulley-Rose, Museum and Archives Manager at Museum of Croydon wearing ‘Bold.’ badge.
The Artworks
Several contemporary artists who identify as gay, bisexual, queer and men who have sex with men (MSM) were invited to take part in ‘Bold.’ as a way of continuing my research into homosexual oppression. The exhibition was comprised of paintings, sculpture, video work and photography - which tended to focus on the artists’ emotional relationships with their sexuality.
Wesley Baker’s video ‘GhostTown’ shows him riding through Croydon on a bike that gives him a sense of “freedom and expression”, while Constantine Elijah describes his digital collages of masculinity ‘Look at me!’ as a way to “vocalize his emotions which were generated through his life as a gay man living in a closet”. Davide Menghello’s work ‘Proposition III (Shade)’ is a research document around The Rejected (1961), the first documentary about homosexuality broadcast on US television. The images are of a figure, their face hidden and lost in a crowd – the closeted homosexual.
Neil Kelso’s powerful sculpture is that of a figure enveloped in words, breaking free from the prison of a dictionary. It is a comment on the power of words to oppress, and the complications that arise when we try to label ourselves and each other.
“Being born into a society whose words, laws and customs state that as a gay man I am wrong, unnatural, immoral, illegal, inferior, and unlovable, has been painful and isolating.”
Jack Howell Evans’ describes the objects in ‘Crown Jewel$’ as “‘queer’ in nature…manipulated, bent, twisted, pierced, confused and repurposed” and relates them to his “own encounters with discrimination”. My own work ‘Pink Boy’ is a sculptural piece that combines pink textile with metal and chain to explore the shame and confusion felt as a boy that identified with the feminine more than the masculine.
Antonis Sideras’ ‘Party?’ uses a very specific colour palette to explore their identity, creating a series of bunting using colours from the transgender and pride flags to reference queerness, forming words like ‘Outcast’ and ‘Ignored’ to express the lived experiences of a queer person in a heteronormative world.
Charlie Yen’s body of work in the show allowed him to explore his gay identity head on and was “an opportunity to be myself again without fears.”
‘Projection - read me(s)’ by Charlie Yen.
“I come to understand that I’m exploring aspects of who I am through my work, even if it wasn’t my intent.”
The works in the exhibition demonstrated to me that queer people are still haunted by negative emotions like fear and pain and continue to feel isolated from society. Despite the battles we have won in our quest for equality, we still struggle to find acceptance in society and in ourselves. Following the exhibition launch, my continued research led me to a group of people with less rights than me, but who had developed an attitude about acceptance and self-love that was awe inspiring…
Images are copyrighted to one of the following: Museum of Croydon, Mark Goldby and named artists.
For any more information please email museum@croydon.gov.uk