How To Make A Home. Museum of The Home.
I HAD THE PLEASURE OF JOINING A PANEL DISCUSSION AT THE MUSEUM OF THE HOME TO DISCUSS HOW TO ACCURATELY AND APPROPRIATELY TELL STORIES OF MIGRATION IN MUSEUM SETTINGS. A TRANSCRIPT is BELOW.
WHAT DOES MIGRATION MEAN TO YOU?/WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH MIGRATION?
FOR ME, MIGRATION IS A SLIGHTLY ABSTRACT CONCEPT; MY FAMILY MOVED A LOT THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY, SEARCHING FOR A BETTER LIFE, HALF COMING FROM INDIA AND HALF FROM SCOTLAND. AS A WHITE PERSON, I GUESS I WOULD ALSO SAY PERSONALLY THAT MEANS ‘COMPLEXITY’ OUR FAMILY PHOTOS ARE FROM INDIA – BUT AS A WHITE PERSON THAT MEANS CONFRONTING THE COMPLEXITY THE WHOLE OF THE WESTERN WORLD IS CONFRONTING CURRENTLY. HOW DO YOU PERSONALLY EXPLORE AND CONNECT WITH A HERITAGE WHILE HOLDING THE CONTEMPORARY LENS OF UNDERSTANDING THE WEIGHT, PROBLEMS, AND DAMAGE THAT COLONIZATION DID.
SO, IT HOLDS A RESPONSIBILITY TO HONEST AND DIRECT STORYTELLING WHILE FEELING A COMPLEX CONNECTION TO THE FAMILIAR STORY. WITHIN MY STORYTELLING, I ALWAYS USED TO SAY, ‘I RAN TO LONDON AS FAST AS I COULD. ’ AS A QUEER PERSON, I HAD NO INTEREST IN STAYING IN THE TOWN I WAS BORN WHICH IS SOMETHING I BELIEVE IS A COMMON THREAD FOR QUEER PEOPLE.
HOW DOES YOUR IDENTITY PLAY A ROLE IN YOUR PRACTICE?
I THINK THERE’S A COMMON THEME FOR QUEER PEOPLE, WHICH IS BALANCING THE GUT-WRENCHING FEAR OF VISIBILITY WHILE ALSO ACKNOWLEDGING THAT YOUR WORK, THE WAY YOU THINK, TO QUESTION SOCIAL NORMS, TO RESPOND PLAYFULLY AND WHIMSICALLY TO THOSE NORMS. TO CORRUPT AND SHIFT THEM WITH HUMOUR IS QUEER AND, THEREFORE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPARATE FROM YOURSELF OR YOUR WORKING PRACTICE. I CAN’T HELP BUT BE QUEER, SO EVERYTHING I DO IS IN ESSENCE A QUEERING.
WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP, DID YOU FEEL REPRESENTED WHEN GOING TO MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES? HAS THIS CHANGED AT ALL TODAY? WHAT WORK DO YOU THINK STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE?
NO, I REMEMBER WHEN I FIRST WATCHED THE CELLULOID CLOSET, BASED ON A BOOK BY VITO RUSSO, WAS GOING TO A MUSEUM, AND IT WAS THE MOST UNEXPECTEDLY EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE FOR ME AS I HAD NEVER SEEN MYSELF IN THE PLACES I HAD VISITED AT SCHOOL.
IT WAS THIS AMAZING UNCOVERING AND REALIZING THAT THE LGBTQIA+ ELDERS HAD LEFT BREADCRUMBS OF CODING IN PLAIN SIGHT, AND ALL I NEEDED TO DO WAS UNLOCK THEM. A LOT OF CULTURE IS BUILT FROM AND BY QUEER PEOPLE; YOU WOULDN’T NECESSARILY KNOW THAT IT WAS UNLESS YOU CAN READ THE CODE. WE GREW UP WITH VERY SPECIFIC REPRESENTATION, BUT THIS EXISTED IN OLD FILMS, NOT ON MUSEUM WALLS.
WE GREW UP WITHOUT ROLE MODELS, WITHOUT IMAGES OF QUEER FAMILY LIFE, OF WHAT OUR QUEERNESS LOOKS LIKE WHEN IT COMES TO A DOMESTIC SETTING, TO POLITICS, TO NURSING, TO ROYALTY DUE TO THE AIDS CRISIS THOSE PEOPLE WHO WOULD HAVE BECOME THOSE ROLE MODELS WERE LOST. SO IN TERMS OF WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, INVENTIVENESS.
THE QUEER CONTEMPORARY IS HINDERED BY THE LOSS OF THESE AMAZING PEOPLE, SO WE NEED TO IMAGINE AND DREAM FOR THEM AND TELL STORIES THE STORIES THAT WERE TRUE BUT HIDDEN, BUT ALSO PLAYFULLY IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HAD LARGE SECTIONS OF THE QUEER COMMUNITY NOT died.
HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR OWN VOICE/PERSPECTIVE WHEN DOING COLLABORATIVE/CO-CREATED WORK? OR DO YOU THINK THAT YOU SHOULD TRY AND REMOVE YOUR OWN POINT OF VIEW AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE?
AS I’VE SAID, I’M QUEER,. SO EVERYTHING I DO COMES WITH A QUEER LENS. HOWEVER, I LEAN ON A FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENT OF QUEER LIFE WHICH IS COMMUNITY AND FOUND FAMILY. IT’S BUILDING NETWORKS AND PLATFORMING OTHERS TO TELL THEIR STORIES AND NOT JUST TELLING MY OWN, AS I DO NOT REPRESENT THE PLETHORA OF STORIES BOTH LIVED AND LOST. AND IT’S NOT BEING THE LOUDEST VOICE IN THE ROOM.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MORE CHALLENGING ASPECTS OF CO-CREATION, EITHER AS THE ARTIST WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY OR BEING ASKED BY AN ORGANISATION TO HELP PROVIDE A VOICE ON BEHALF OF A COMMUNITY?
I THINK BECAUSE QUEER STORIES ARE HIDDEN, LOST, AND PRIVATE, IT’S BUILDING TRUST THAT THE STORY WILL BE HELD AND WORKING WITH INSTITUTIONS TO UNDERSTAND THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE A FRAMEWORK OF PROTECTION AND NOT JUST TAKE AND SHOW AND TELL AND WALK AWAY.
INSTITUTIONS HAD A BIG MOMENT OF REALIZING THEY SHOULD TELL QUEER STORIES AND NOW AT THE MOMENT SHY AWAY FROM TELLING PARTICULARLY TRANS STORIES FOR FEAR OF BACKLASH.
IT’S THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO STEP FIRMING INTO THE MIDDLE OF THAT CONVERSATION AND SAY QUEER PEOPLE ARE HERE, ALWAYS. THEY HAVE BEEN HERE, THEY ARE HERE, THEY WILL BE HERE, AND WE WILL FIGHT FOR REPRESENTATION ALONGSIDE THEM.
ONE OF THE THEMES YOU BROUGHT UP AS A COMMUNITY AUTHOR IS THE IDEA OF QUEER MIGRATION, WHICH HAS SERVED AS ONE OF THE INSPIRATIONS BEHIND OUR 00’S ROOM – CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT QUEER MIGRATION AND WHY IT’S AN IMPORTANT STORY TO TELL?
A LARGE NUMBER OF QUEER PEOPLE EXPERIENCE MIGRATION, EITHER WITHIN THEIR OWN COUNTRY OR FURTHER AField, TO FIND SAFETY AND COMMUNITY. I HADN’T REALIZED IT’S A LARGE PART OF QUEER IDENTITY, BUT IT’S LARGELY UNDOCUMENTED AND REMAINS HIDDEN. WITHIN THE UK, THEY ONLY DOCUMENT LGB MIGRATION AND IGNORE TRANS MIGRATION AS A STATISTIC, BUT IN 2020, THIS DROPPED FROM AN AVERAGE 7% TO 3%.
THE FACT THE NUMBER IS DROPPING SHOWS REFLECTS THE POLITICAL CLIMATE OF THE UK AND WHETHER QUEER PEOPLE CONSIDER THIS A ‘SAFE’ PLACE TO MAKE A HOME. SO, AS I SAID – IT’S A HIDDEN STORY WE SHOULD TELL LOUDLY.
YOUR OWN ARTISTIC PRACTICE IS A LOT ABOUT BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY, LOOKING AT CLASSICAL THEMES THROUGH MODERN PERSPECTIVES AND TECHNIQUES – WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MUSEUMS ADOPT THIS MORE PLAYFUL AND PERHAPS MORE INTERROGATIVE APPROACH TO HISTORY? HOW MIGHT YOU SEE IT WORKING AT THE MUSEUM OF THE HOME?
PLAY IS FUNDAMENTAL TO LEARNING.
I LIKE TO USE THE PHRASE FROM MY FRIEND SARAH CHEW CALLED WEAPONISED WHIMSY. IT’S ABOUT USING A PLAYFUL KNOWING HUMOUR TO EXPLORE DIFFICULT SUBJECTS. IT’S A WAY OF BUILDING A FEELING OF SAFETY WITHIN THE VIEWING AUDIENCE AND ALLOWING THEM SPACE FOR LEARNING. IT TAKES YOU BACK TO A YOUNGER ‘BRAIN’ WHICH SHORT CIRCUITS SOME OF THOSE INITIAL NEGATIVE BRAIN PATHWAYS THAT MAY BE VERY EMBEDDED.
HOWEVER, ADDITIONALLY, AS I MENTIONED, THE STORIES OF MANY QUEER PEOPLE WERE CUT SHORT.
WITHIN THIS WE HAVE TO ‘DREAM’ FOR THEM. WE HAVE TO IMAGINE IF VITO HAD BECOME PRESIDENT. WE HAVE TO IMAGINE IF WE HAD OPENLY QUEER ROYALITY. WE HAVE ALSO TO TELL THE STORY THAT DOES NOT EXIST TO BUILD A ROADMAP FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. ADDITIONALLY, WE CAN PROVIDE FRAMEWORKS OF COMMUNITY, HEALTHCARE, AND POLITICS AS WE BUILD THESE FOR OURSELVES LARGELY OUTSIDE OF SOCIETY.