On August 2nd, People Like Us took over iconic queer venue The Glory for an evening of Revellry; creating a site specific installation of images and holding a cabaret featuring talented participants from the project to celebrate the work so far. The event was supported by the Arts Council England and marked the end of this funded part of the developmental period.
The installation featured over 40 participants looking out at viewers from the walls, the pillars, the bar, the toilets and even the ceiling, their faces and bodies everywhere cheekily peaking out from unexpected spaces or boldly gazing into your eyes. Credit to Chiron Stamp who collaborated with me on the ceiling hangings and helped to install it all - they are way handier with their toolkit than I am!
The Revellry was hosted by That Ray, who also came up with the name for the event - they are very very witty, clever and talented, they made me and the project feel extremely special and loved.
That Ray posing for me when they caught me “photographing my own show!”
The cabaret was astounding - ALL talent from the project:
Serge - Hot Pencil Press - Letter To My Little Queer Self, Krishna Istha - Trans TV writer, Comedian, Performance artist, Theatre maker - Comedy set, Chiron Stamp - Poetry scored by George Hannington, That Ray - Artist // Writer // Trans Fag - SELL OUT GET PAID, Sabah Choudrey - Hairy brown writer, speaker and proud trans youth worker - ‘Gold’ and in convo with Holly, Chuck SJ - Multidisciplinary Artist + Writer - Acoustic song, Prinx Silver - Trans icon, Spanish hunk, Drag King sensation - Handyman.
I really enjoyed being on stage with Sabah chatting about the project, sharing some of its history and context, how it all began with a conversation over spicy ginger beers on the Southbank with my pal Leo who was at the beginnings of their transition back in 2017, followed by lots more talking and most importantly listening to various pals who were coming out as non-binary and trans. Sabah asked me which shoots had the most impact on me? I replied, much as I love a post-surgery shoot when the person is so ready to be free and topless and joyful, discovering new ways to move and hold their body, I really love working with people early on in their journey of self discovery, making space for them to explore say with clothes and gestures and try things that they’ve not had the opportunity to yet or the confidence. I also quoted Xandice who I shot with recently; “you’re meeting people at this really important time in their lives”. I must have been aware of this but hadn’t thought of it this way so hearing it out loud from a participant was really cool. Sabah spoke about the impact of the various shoots we’ve done together and how they’ve been able to move into different types of masculinity, how seeing everyone else and how the project is evolving, having more conversations with me and other participants has allowed them to be a bit more camp and playful which is really special. Always the most interesting and affirming thing for me is getting insight about the project from the participants.
We also had a great playlist from DJ Xzan (Gal Pals), Film Screenings from Neelu Bhuman - Artist Filmmaker - 'More Love. Less Prepackaged Bullshit and Joey Hateley - The Gender Joker. Door hotties Nneka Cummins and Sabah Choudrey welcomed all our beautiful guests. Jen Smethurst looked after our merch and made everybody smile, Ymir took photos and gave us all some Daddy energy!
I am so proud of everything this project has achieved so far and this event was EPIC for me in many ways from its creation and production to what it stands for, centring this part of the LGBTQI+ community in such an iconic queer venue where this demographic are not usually so prominent. I’ve been extremely encouraged by the participants’ enthusiasm and commitment throughout, it’s really helped make the project more and more ambitious. Feedback has been really positive with people loving seeing these people on display loud and proud. The audience at our night of Revellry were beautiful and invested; I think its really important to share this kind of work with its own communities first then we’ll take the Tate or the Barbican - THANK YOU!
Next up I’m doing a talk on Wednesday 16th November at the Royal Photography Society in Bristol - live and online - it’s free: https://events.rps.org/en/4LrdQ66/the-photobook-club-at-the-rps-holly-revell-5a2N4L6ZtRG/overview