Anthony Luvera
not going shopping
Anthony Luvera not going shopping In June 2013 I was invited to collaborate with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* people in Brighton to create work about being queer. The invitation immediately captured my attention. While the first same sex weddings in March 2014 may be a great step forward for the rights of queer people in the UK, LGBT* individuals still remain largely invisible or misrepresented in the public sphere. The prospect of creating this work seemed to me to offer a useful way to further my inquiry into participation and self-representation with groups of marginalized individuals. At the same time I thought it could provide an opportunity to confront my own views of queerness as a gay man. I asked eleven people who responded to an open call to meet with me and to bring along photographs that told ‘their story’. This enabled conversations to start flowing and for us all to get to know each other a little. We spent time unpicking ideas to do with ‘family’, ‘place’, ‘politics’, and ‘language’, and I coached participants in using their cameras. Everyone was encouraged to consider what being queer means to them, and to photograph their experiences and the things they are interested in. Over the following months we met regularly to share photographs and discuss what was working well, what could be improved, and how this might be achieved. We visited Brighton Museum to consider how the social history of LGBT* people is represented in their collection. We created self-portraits in a photo booth on the North Laine. We explored sites for an outdoor exhibition and brainstormed titles. We talked about gay parents, queer theory, the politics of Pride, the asterisk in trans*, and everything else besides. Our conversations flowed easily and enthusiastically, spilling over onto private Facebook group discussions and the pages of our public blog. Our regular visits to the photo booth became an important tool to sharpen discussions about photography and identity, and inspire planning to create collaborative portraits. The private and intimate space of this equipment, usually related to the production of images for official purposes of identification, seemed a particularly potent lens through which to look at ourselves. We took these ideas back to the workshop to create our own photo booth, queer it, and then explode out with a final portrait made on the streets of Brighton. Images play a powerful role in the stories we tell about ourselves and the histories told about us. not going shopping seeks to express the points of view of the participants and myself about what it is to be Queer in Brighton.
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Participants J Bayliss Raphael Fox Ten Harber Sarah Magdalena Love Harry Pygar Kelly McBride Luc Raesmith Matt Robinson Kate Turner Edward Whelan Charlie Wood
A quick note after the fourth workshop ... by Ten Photograph, photograph, photograph! Posted by Ten at 11:43 No comments: Labels: Anthony Luvera, brighton, collaboration, collaborative art, not going shopping, participatory photography, queer in brighton, self-portraits, Ten Harber
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LGBT and what it means to me ... by Charlie In the group we spent quite a while discussing the phrase (acronym?) LGBT - lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender. Largely we disagreed with this as a representation of the queer community. Personally I find it a bit narrow. I think it doesn’t allow for much room and seems to operate within the system of binaries many queer people fight hard to defy. I dislike the way it refuses to acknowledge the grey areas that I personally try to occupy, the same grey areas that are constantly ignored by the majority of society at the cost of the people in them. And surely exclusion is the last thing anyone in this community needs. I use the word community carefully – a few in the group disagreed with it too, saying it implied that all the gays in Brighton were in some sort of club that met on Thursday nights in the church and exchange opinions on Liza Minnelli or the L word. That’s not the community I have in mind. My idea of community is a system of people who don’t necessarily have anything in common but kind of have an overall support for each other – a sense of togetherness through difference. It doesn’t mean everyone has to be best friends, people don’t even need to like each other, but I like to think if I was getting beaten up for wearing eyeliner in some ally, I would be able to call an army of queer folks to come to my aid. I’m aware this is almost definitely naive (obviously that was an extreme example but still) the more I find out about the politics of all this stuff the more I realise how many different opinions there are on the matter, many feeling like some groups should have no need to have any responsibility to any other than themselves. I understand that, but I like my idea better. It’s like a big celebration of love but without all the pitfalls of huge celebrations of love (extremism and Jesus). But back to LGBT. It might just be because I don’t currently identify with any of those letters, but certainly feel a queerness to my personality. I was born in the fires of the queer world (resulting in me having a small legion of lesbians forming a support network stronger than steel). I also don’t feel much solidarity with the straight mainstream, obviously not all of them, but I tend to be drawn to people who are (and I say this lovingly) a bit odd. Not always in a queer way, but people who have transcended the norm a little bit. So I would hate to be excluded from what I consider ‘my people’ because im not an L, G, B or T. I don’t feel it’s as simple as four letters. If anything this group have proved that. There are people in Not Going Shopping who have nothing in common with the other people on a personal level but there is a warmness to the room as soon as you walk in. A lovely queer warmth from people of virtually every description of queer. That’s why I think queer is a better word, you don’t have to qualify, you can just meet on equal not judgemental terms. I think I think this because of political reasons but it could just be a personal fear of exclusion. Anyway, ramble over. Looking forward to the next session. Charlie Posted by charliewood at 04:43 No comments: Labels: Anthony Luvera, brighton, Charlie Wood, collaboration, not going shopping, participatory photography, queer, queer in brighton, self-portraits
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The word ‘queer’ ... by Kate One of the broad ideas that the project has brought up for me is the question of what constitutes queer. Our group discussions often turn to what we mean by that term and we always find ourselves preserving the openness of it. Nearing the beginning of the project the question for me was how to capture something in line with ‘queer’ and still maintain that openness to resist fixing it in any way. Week on week the huge spectrum of images, experiences and points of view photographed by all of us has formed a body of work that is multiple and open and resits pinning down queer in definitive terms. It’s been really rewarding to
Matt Robinson I am struggling to find something that feels relevant to the project. Admittedly I have to go to Reading for work tomorrow, which in itself is hardly an inspiration. I’m just unsure what ‘queer’ means to me. I’ve just read JB’s post and have contemplated places or people or things that make me feel uncomfortable but... I’m not in an uncomfortable place. Being ‘queer’ doesn’t make me think of the bad times, but of the good ones. It’s always been my source of strength, my fallback, my go-to. I have been uncomfortable in other respects but how do I take pictures of the past? And in trying to recreate it, isn’t that being dishonest and prone to either over-dramatizing events or papering over the cracks whilst wearing rosetinted glasses? My parents didn’t disown me when I awkwardly came out. Neither did my sisters. My friends were open-armed. I suffered at the hands of a few bullies at school but it would be weird to contact them and say “Hi, fancy recreating images of our past which you’ve probably forgotten and I’ve long since laid to rest?” I’ve been able to stand up to people who are casually homophobic and challenge them.
progress through this project with everyone else and I think ultimately it’s that group collective that helps us use queer in that unfixed, uncategorised way that can only ever be more productive than divisive labels and boxed in concepts. I often end up leaving the workshop with loads of big ideas, all of which are too big to translate, or don’t really come off. This week I’m trying to focus on the every day, on the little things. I’m asking myself why they matter; why these things in particular? At the same time I’m not asking anything at all. I’m putting faith in the idea that such images self-select in the sense that there is something about them that sparks the impulse to pick up the camera. I’m much more open now to just seeing where an idea takes me and trying out different things. For now it’s one last photographing spree before our workshop tomorrow. Posted by KateTurner at 02:59 No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: Anthony Luvera, brighton, cameras, collaborative art, Kate Turner, not going shopping, queer in brighton
So, if anyone has an idea in their head then I’m all ears.
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Like · · 13 August 2013 at 22:42
The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly – By JB
Harry Hillery Just take pictures u like. They’ll speak volumes. We are trying to represent all aspects of queer as it exists for each of us. That’s a different journey for everyone. I have stopped trying to think too much and just snap. 13 August 2013 at 22:57 · Unlike · 3 Anthony Luvera You are relevant to the project Matt. That’s all you need to know really, but if you’d like to have a chat send me a message and I can call you. 13 August 2013 at 23:27 · Like Matt Robinson Hey all, thank you for wise words. I think I was just having a moment. It’s late and I must sleep. Early start and very likely not that interesting subject matter for two days. I’m taking the camera though, just in case. 14 August 2013 at 00:22 · Unlike · 1 Luc Raesmith Hi m 14 August 2013 at 14:17 · Like Luc Raesmith Start again... Hi Matt, re your questions, etc. what if you think of family beyond yr immediate kinship circle: parents, siblings+, & consider family in terms of location, souvenirs/gifts, gay frinds ‘family’ 14 August 2013 at 14:20 · Unlike · 1 Luc Raesmith bloody return key... gay marriage/parenting, foods, memorabilia; that way there cld be endless scope for snapping opps! Have fun! Queer doesn’t have to signify +ve nor -ve... 14 August 2013 at 14:23 · Unlike · 1
Luc Raesmith And now (calmly...) here’s the list of places for folk to go in the next week, please, (by bus, suggested AL) to look for suitable photo-posting sites: Take shots of site(s) and report back next workshop, Sat 24.08.13 - as Anthony needs Julia of Photoworks to negotiate with Council re using sites... So far, 6 out of the 14 places are signed-up for (by those at last Sat’s Cafe Delice break); of the other 8, I here suggest 4-of-5 persons for the unclaimed places - but feel free to negotiate between your-5-selves &/or swap to the spare3-’?’-places... (* v. sorry, I don’t know who the 11th member is - & I’m not risking losing all this info leaving this post to look at member list - what with my recent F’bk fracktious experiences...) Have fun on the QinB outer city trail! 0 - Fishergate = ? 1 - Tarner = Luc’s 2 - Whitehawk = Matt’s 3 - Seven Dials = Ten’s 4 - Fiveways = Charlie’s 5 - Seafront:Promenade/Huts = Jess:JB’s 6 - London Road Viaduct = Harry’s ? 7 - Kemptown = ? 8 - N Laines/City College - Fox’s ? 9 - Lewes Rd, Falmer = Sarah’s 10 - Back of Station - Ed’s ? 11 - Hove:Montpelier ‘Gourmet Ghetto’ = Katie’s ? 13 - Seafront:Marina end = ? Unlike · · 18 August 2013 at 15:49 Sarah Magdalena, Ten Harber and Edward Whelan like this. JA Bayliss I get the 7 a lot from kemp town to hove so would be happy to cover that route plus seafront between the piers x 18 August 2013 at 16:00 · Like Luc Raesmith ‘Route’ is a bit vague; are you telling all that you will, as well as Seafront, do Kemptown (up Sussex Hosp end)?? 18 August 2013 at 16:03 · Like JA Bayliss The 7 route as i get it goes up north st and along queens st to the train station then up the hill to 7 dials then through some suburbs to hove train station. I also cycle from the pier up to hove every morning and back every night so can cover that stretch. 18 August 2013 at 16:12 · Like Luc Raesmith Sorry, wires crossed: I know the several miles / 45 mins no.7 bus route well... What folks need to commit to is realistically (timewise) searching a specific, small, out-ofcentre area that is still people-traffic’d; eg. Huts area of seafront, Hove; Marina end of Seafront, far-eastern Brighton; Viaduct end of London Rd; etc. Hope this is clearer for all! And, cheers JB for offering to do 2 site searches! 18 August 2013 at 16:22 · Like Harry Hillery Happy to look at London Road, Viaduct area 18 August 2013 at 19:15 · Like JA Bayliss OK well i got the 7 this morning and found a few places, and i will do my usual cycle route and commit to searching between the piers. 19 August 2013 at 09:08 · Like
As a queer person (and even more so a Trans person) coming out is a very personal affair. However, coming out to people often means that a kind of queer ambassadorship is thrust upon you, whether you like it or not. To the straight people drunkenly asking how you have sex in the nightclub smoking area, or the confused elderly lady on the bus you inadvertently blurted to, you are now the spokesperson for your entire community. The pressure is on. Much like a Briton abroad - stuck cringing amongst a rowdy flock of topless, sunburnt, lager filled aggressors, hoping that the poor Spaniards subjected to the unsightly crowd won’t judge all 63.23 million of us - LGBT people come in all shapes, sizes, colours, and levels of agreeability. It’s unsettling when you meet an LGBT person with disagreeable views and opinions, because you imagine all of the people who have met them and made a judgement about the entire community based on their utterings. It’s not the job of the LGBT community to be perfect all the time, it’s the job of everybody else to humanise us more, and in doing so – see us as individuals. When I began taking photos for this project I was going through a period of great personal change and reflection, and I found that as I did this my photos moved away from the scenes of the city and it’s vibrant and diverse queer community, to close ups of myself and my loved ones, pieces of great self-expression and vulnerability. I felt the pressure release as I abandoned the idea of trying to represent a group of people I couldn’t hope to capture, even with the best camera on earth. I began to represent myself, and did so with much more success. While these pieces speak a lot about me and my experiences of being queer - experiences I share in common with many of my friends - not all queer art is ambassadorship, and it should not be treated as such. Generalisations based on what we say, what we do, and even what we create are not helpful, and can be dehumanising. While art often brings us together on common ground, one thing I am most proud of the queer community for is its ability to celebrate difference. I want people to look at our photos – together and individually – as a cross section of the community. The good, the bad, and the ugly reside here; and we are just like you, in that we are not the same at all. Posted by Sarah Hebben at 03:00 No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: Anthony Luvera, brighton, Jess Bayliss, lgbt, not going shopping, photography, queer
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What Queerness means to us by JB and Sarah “Queerness, to me, is about far more than homosexual attraction. It’s about a willingness to see all other taboos broken down. Sure, many of us start on this path when we first feel “same sex” or “same gender” attraction (though what is sex? And what is gender? And does anyone really have the same sex or gender as anyone else?). But queerness doesn’t stop there. This is a somewhat controversial stance, but to me
Anthony Luvera It was great to see you today! I was so excited to see the images you have all made. I feel we are making something very strong and I can’t wait to see how it all continues to grow. Like · · 17 August 2013 at 20:49 near London JA Bayliss and Harry Hillery like this. Matt Robinson Thank you for the direction. I can stop ‘snapping’ and start working with some good images now. 17 August 2013 at 21:02 · Unlike · 1 Anthony Luvera I really feel you can Matt. You have an amazing opportunity to say something about the extraordinary people around you. 17 August 2013 at 21:07 · Like
Harry Hillery Not going shopping - deliberations, conversations, images and inspiration
Unlike · · 11 August 2013 at 11:14 You, Sarah Magdalena, Ten Harber and 2 others like this. Sarah Magdalena awesome! 11 August 2013 at 11:15 · Like Luc Raesmith O Camera Club! Wot woz I thinking? Equation should hv bn: U + CxLx(d)F = <£ + >C(HE)eR... And, I just found the ‘¡’ on keyboard 4 future ¡capturistas! reference. 《PS can afford to word play as have already snaphappy-captured my ‘family-theme mosaic’ ~ + all b4 Sunday Brunch》other peeps hv pets&partners, i know... 11 August 2013 at 12:02 · Unlike · 2 Luc Raesmith PS (and finally...) Oz = Aus (nr SouthPole) - not Oz as in SomeWhere (w. Friends of Dorothy) over the Rainbow FlagPole... 11 August 2013 at 12:55 · Unlike · 1
queer means something completely different than “gay” or “lesbian” or “bisexual.” A queer person is usually someone who has come to a non-binary view of gender, who recognizes the validity of all trans identities, and who, given this understanding of infinite gender possibilities, finds it hard to define their sexuality any longer in a gender-based way. Queer people understand and support non-monogamy even if they do not engage in it themselves. They can grok being asexual or aromantic. (What does sex have to do with love, or love with sex, necessarily?) A queer can view promiscuous (protected) public bathhouse sex with strangers and complete abstinence as equally healthy. “Queers understand that people have different relationships to their bodies. We get what it means to be stone. We know what body dysphoria is about. We understand that not everyone likes to get touched the same way or to get touched at all. We realize that people with disabilities may have different sexual needs, and that people with survivor histories often have sexual triggers. We can negotiate safe and creative ways to be intimate with people with HIV/ AIDs and other STIs. Queers understand the range of power and sensation and the diversity of sexual dynamics. We are tops and bottoms, doms and subs, sadists and masochists and sadomasochists, versatiles and switches. We know what we like and don’t like in bed. We embrace a wide range of relationship types. We can be partners, lovers, friends with benefits, platonic sweethearts, chosen family. We can have very different dynamics with different people, often all at once. We don’t expect one person to be able to fulfill all our diverse needs, fantasies and ideals indefinitely. Because our views on relationships, sex, gender, love, bodies, and family are so unconventional, we are of necessity anti-assimilationist. Because under the kyriarchy we suffer, and watch the people we love suffering, we are political. Because we want to survive, we fight. We only want the freedom to be ourselves, love ourselves, love each other, and live together. Because we are routinely denied that, we are pissed. Queer doesn’t mean “don’t label me,” it means “I am naming myself.” It means “ask me more questions if you curious” and in the same breath means “fuck off.”” - by Asher http://tranarchism.com/2011/07/07/what-queerness-means-to-me/ Posted by Sarah Hebben at 03:06 No comments: Labels: Anthony Luvera, brighton, Sarah Hebben, collaboration, not going shopping, queer, queer in brighton, lgbt
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What is queer? Anthony Luvera Hi Everyone, I’ve now been able to confirm access to NWS rooms this Saturday. I hope you can all come along between 12noon and 4.30pm. I will be bringing equipment to recreate photo booth portraits. We also have access to the rooms on the 9th of November from 1pm to 5pm - at which i hope to create the “outside photo booth pictures”. Some of you may not be sure about what I’m talking about here... Last Saturday we discussed plans for the portraits whereby we’re going to recreate the four image photo booth portraits. Two of the images will be made in front of a curtain, as if inside a photobooth, one will be outside on the streets of Brighton, and the fourth will be a text panel written by you. So this saturday I’m hoping to do as many inside photo booth portraits as possible, and the following saturday to do the outside portraits... I hope this makes some sense... Please do email or call me with any questions... Anthony x Like · · 30 October 2013 at 10:55 JA Bayliss cool! A text panel? 30 October 2013 at 10:56 · Unlike · 1 Anthony Luvera I’ll explain more on Saturday 30 October 2013 at 11:03 · Like · 1 Harry Hillery Sounds cool. I will need to leave after a couple of hourS though sadly. 30 October 2013 at 11:14 · Unlike · 1 Sarah Magdalena Hey, JB and I were wondering what the outline for saturday is? We are both struggling to juggle it with other commitments and were wondering if we can maybe organize slots for our individual portraits or if we wanted to do more group work? 31 October 2013 at 10:46 · Unlike · 2 Harry Hillery Sounds cool. I will need to leave after a couple of hourS though sadly. 30 October 2013 at 11:14 · Unlike · 1 Anthony Luvera This Saturday is about (re)creating individual photo booth portraits with pro gear. I’d like to do as many as people in one session if poss. But I totes understand if people can’t make it or can only make it for some of the session. We only have this Saturday and the next though. So I hope people might be able to make it to one of these or both? x x 31 October 2013 at 14:27 · Like
A five letter word, just like label Reclaimed and ‘brand’ new 14 Scrabble points A playground daddy slur Beautiful otherness Does it really matter? After many weeks away, it was good to be back and not going shopping. However my lightness of being was soon eclipsed by my turn on the chair facing the lens. I had enjoyed the photo booth but in this re-creation I felt strangely unrehearsed and beaten by the flash gun’s menacing strobe. I was in the headmaster’s office or the inquisitor’s chair. Despite being amongst friends, it was all a bit queer and there was no comfort zone. The pictures themselves did nothing to make me feel any better. My first reaction was horror at seeing my age writ large by piercing unforgiving digital technology. There appeared to be none of the softness and romance of the photo booth in these images. The thought of seeing my face blown up and pasted on walls also filled me with dread. I found myself considering withdrawing from the project rather than confront the many demons ram raiding my brittle self-esteem. But then like a retreating wave the fear subsided as she emerged before me. I could see my mother’s features woven into my own, the line of her chin; the grey warmth of her eyes. Mesmerised I revisited each picture in turn, greedy to see more of her. Tears welled in my eyes as I channelled the ever present sense of loss with a joy at seeing her alive in me. She died proud of me, another five letter word.
Shopping list White Average Short Husky Queer 54 Posted by Harryboy at 05:47 No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Labels: Anthony Luvera, brighton, collaborative art, Harry Hillery, not going shopping, participatory photography, queer in brighton
not going shopping is a body of work created by Anthony Luvera in collaboration with queer people living in Brighton & Hove. In response to an open call, participants came forward to work with the artist over a six-month period to create photographs that articulate their points of view about what it is to be queer in Brighton. Taking inspiration from photo booth portraits – images usually associated with official identification – they recreated their own photo booth, queered it, and then exploded out of it with a final portrait made on the streets of Brighton. The resultant Collaborative Portraits are exhibited on site-specific outdoor poster locations across Brighton & Hove in February 2014. Many thanks to Sonia Blair, Benedict Burbridge, Shelley Bennett, Klair Bird, Juliette Buss, Alice Compton, Celia Davies, Sarah Dickenson, Beytan Erkmen, Willow Findlay, Andy Ford, Ciara Hickey, Maria Jastrze˛bska, Matt Lindsey, Dean Pavitt, Tom Pye, David Sheppeard, Chris Taylor, Sean Teatum, Helen Wade, Hazel Watts, Lesley Wood. And everyone associated with Photoworks, New Writing South and Pink Fringe who contributed to making this work. http://notgoingshopping.blogspot.co.uk/
QUEER IN BRIGHTON In 2012, New Writing South, Pink Fringe and Photoworks joined forces to set up Queer in Brighton, an 18-month intergenerational project celebrating and promoting the cultural heritage of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* people in Brighton & Hove. Created as a heritage-learning project that harnesses the power of creativity and the arts, Queer in Brighton has encouraged members of Brighton’s LGBT* communities to engage with, learn about and share its hidden histories and untold stories. Queer in Brighton has had many activity strands, including workshops, events, oral history training, and a conference. It has enabled the production of creative writing, new oral histories, commissioned essays and photography, which have been presented through exhibition, performance and publication. New Writing South, Photoworks and Pink Fringe and would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund, Brighton & Hove City Council and Sussex Community Foundation whose financial support made this project possible.
www.queerinbrighton.co.uk
C-TYPE PRINTING GICLÉE PRINTING ARCHIVAL MOUNTING SPECTRUM IS PROUD TO SUPPORT PHOTOWORKS AND THE WORK OF ANTHONY LUVERA.
Anthony Luvera is an Australian artist, writer and educator. His photographic work has been exhibited in the British Museum, Art on the Underground, National Portrait Gallery, Belfast Exposed Photography, Australian Centre for Photography, and Les Rencontres D’Arles Photographie. His writing regularly appears in journals such as Photoworks, Source and Photographies. He facilitates workshops and gives lectures for the public education programmes of organisations such as The Photographers’ Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery. www.luvera.com
Photoworks curates, commissions and publishes new work and writing on photography. We produce exhibitions, books, participation and learning projects and events including the Brighton Photo Biennial. Collaboration and participation are central to our vision. We work with a broad range of artists, organisations and experts to engage the widest possible audiences, encourage learning, participation and debate and to inspire new thinking about photography. We are a registered charity and a National Portfolio Organisation, funded by Arts Council England. www.photoworks.org.uk
New Writing South inspires, enables and nurtures all kinds of talented creative writers, connecting them to audiences and the industry. We provide activities that stretch, empower and promote writers and their work, including the progression of young writers. We cultivate new audiences for literature, theatre, poetry and new media with author events, innovative live literature, poetry slams, public debate, book launches. We are a registered charity, supported by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation. www.newwritingsouth.com
Pink Fringe makes Queer & LGBT culture in Brighton. We are producers of theatre, performance, dance, immersive art and entertainment, presenting an exciting and ambitious programme of live events throughout the year. Our aim is to challenge perceptions around diverse work, specifically art created by and about Queer and LGBT people, placing it in multiple contexts, some familiar, some new and unusual, with the aim of attracting new audiences. www.pinkfringe.org.uk