20 Scene CREDIT ROMAN MANFREDI
So what prompted her to start collecting this amazing body of work? “When the film Pride (2014) came out, it told our story from the 1980s but really downplayed the lesbian role, so I think one of the initial things was that it was a bit of a response to that,” she says. “I got some funding about a year ago from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the exhibition and then some private funding for the film [due for general release in the late autumn]. “The whole exhibition is based on archive. We asked the younger artists to respond to that archive so quite a few new works have been created for the exhibition. The aim of the whole project is intergenerational debate and community, so it was important for us to have two curators, one from the older Rebel Dykes community [Atalanta Kernick] and a younger curator, so we were working with Kat Hudson who runs a magazine called Lesley and is very in touch with younger artists.” KAREN FISCH AKA KING FRANKIE SINATRA AND ARTIST SARAH JOY-FORD, CREDIT ROMAN MANFREDI
REBELS WITH A CAUSE
Jaq Bayles visits the stunning Rebel Dykes Art & Archive Show, and looks back at the Lesbian Avengers as their famous handbook is re-released with bonus content ) Rebel Dykes, Lesbian Avengers – the
activists from the ‘80s and ‘90s with major attitude are back. The fact that an important new art show and the release of an updated edition of the original Homemade Revolution Guide have coincided seems fitting in light of the LGBTQ+ community’s current political mood. Certainly the Rebel Dykes Art & Archive Show at Space Station 65 in London’s Kennington fuses a celebration of the achievements of the original Rebel Dykes with work by younger generations who “join them in continuing to disrupt the world today”.
For anyone who remembers the 1980s, this exhibition, which is “rooted in the stories of the Rebel Dykes, featured in the recently premiered documentary, who met through Greenham Common peace camps and squatting together in Brixton in the 1980s” – will also surely reignite some sparks of anger while reminding them just how active the Rebel Dykes were in fighting for their freedoms. Siobhan Fahey, a director of Rebel Dykes History Project CIC and the producer of Rebel Dykes, the movie, started the archiving process in 2014, calling out for articles, artwork, books etc from the period.
“By holding this powerful creative conversation between generations, exploring each other’s art and influences, we are hoping to help heal our painful rifts and are aiming to build future community.” SIOBHAN FAHEY, CREDIT: ROMAN MANFREDI
Clearly the spirit of rebellion is rising once more to confront the fact that misogyny and homophobia continue in the UK, despite the positive achievements of recent decades, and that spirit has resulted in a joyous, evocative collection of photographs, artworks and recordings that unite underrepresented cultural histories of four decades ago with contemporary dyke culture.
In the press release for the exhibition she says: “It is the intergenerational aspect of this exhibition that excites me most. Over recent years there seems to have been a host of misunderstandings and distrust between different generations of queers and dykes. This is at a time when we need to work together more than ever to ensure we don’t lose what older queers fought for. Younger queers need powerful, helpful role models and mentors, and older queers need to know that their earlier struggles are appreciated, and that we will be remembered and cared for as we age.
Looking at the broad and varied collection displayed in the gallery, it’s hard to understand why such works have not previously attracted more attention – there is everything from the wit of Jill Posener’s photographs of graffitidefaced posters, to never-before-exhibited works by Del LaGrace Volcano, to Eleanor Louise West’s fascinating Greenham Common Quilt. “I think one of the reasons why our art is being ignored is because of the self-esteem or confidence of the artists themselves – some of the artists were really shocked and surprised when we approached them to be included in the exhibition. Dixie Thomas’ work is amazing – it’s a triangular wall of black & white photos and they haven’t done anything with them for 30 years until they were asked. I think we hold ourselves back sometimes in not realising our own worth, our own art.” And there’s another very important reason this exhibition needs to be shown, says Siobhan: “We are ageing and dying, so we have to capture these images and stories now, while there’s still chance. “I think present-day life is really tough,
