‘Often when we find images of queer people in history and they’re not recognised’ – member of Worthing LGBTQ+ Photography Club
Inspired by the work of the Our Screen Heritage project Photoworks’ LGBTQ+ Young People’s photography club produced a series of short films, which will be deposited with Screen Archive South East.
The young people’s group, facilitated by artist Eva Louisa Jonas, heard from OSH Project Coordinator Ellie, who explained the project’s purpose and watched a series of videos from the SASE collection. In particular, footage shot by Roger Dunford of Brighton Swimming Club in the early 1950s sparked discussion among the group.
The group commented on how whilst they did not know if there were any people who identified as LGBTQ+ in the video, they felt like they could see themselves taking part in something similar with their friends, such as the dressing up, and that a queer lens could then perhaps be applied to it.
The group then participated in an activity where they selected found 35mm slides to create their own story about LGBTQ+ memories, histories and representation. The young people captured their stories as short video clips, in which they spoke about why they had chosen certain images and how they related to one another. Topics covered included considerations of what happens when LGBTQ+ people aren’t involved in archival practices, the ways that queer history has been remembered even if it isn’t in museums and reflections on growing up without seeing LGBTQ+ people in history or the media. The group also learnt about archival cataloguing practices, what this is and how it can impact the ways that LGBTQ+ history is represented and might not be found. In response to this, the group also had the opportunity to consider how they would like their videos described and labelled.
The videos made by the photography club will be deposited with SASE for long-term preservation as part of Our Screen Heritage and SASE’s ongoing commitment to collecting LGBTQIA+ stories and memories throughout the South East.
Do you have footage of LGBTQIA+ lives in the South East? Our Community Curators would love to hear from you! If you have footage that you could lend our Community Curators to use in their projects get in touch via screenarchive@brighton.ac.uk