In an effort to space out some of the queer stuff which happened the last day in Sydney and the very first day in Tokyo, I’m jumping around a bit. Don’t worry, I’ll roll back and cover the state fair thing they have (The Easter Show) and the other stuff before proceeding to talk about Japan.
It would not have occurred to me to hit up the State Library to see this, but it was advertised prominently in the metro, which is good and cool.
Fair warning - part of the photographic art on display at the galleries of the State Library of New South Wales will actually contain some nude people. You’ll need to squint pretty hard to actually see dudes fucking - I know some of you will, and your efforts will be rewarded - but it is there and now you’ve been warned about it.
But before diving in immediately to the gayest stuff I have encountered on the trip so far, I’ll make a brief mention that the State Library is extremely good overall and has a goddamned massive number of paintings in the galleries. I’ll only call out the painting of these guys before moving on:
But let’s get to the good stuff. In really stark contrast to the frankly half-assedness of the Australia Museum - sans the upper floor Aboriginal stuff - The Pride (R)evolution exhibit was jam packed with art, media, and recorded video testimonials of drag queens bodyslamming a bigot that attacked a gay guy on Oxford street. It would be impossible to fit everything I found awesome in this post, so I’m just going to hit up the highlights. Go there if you can.
This is your final warning if you aren’t in to male nudity (if so - honestly you are missing out just get over it).
In Ben’s Blog Oscar Wilde Mention Drinking Game, you would have consumed two (2) drinks in the last two weeks. Woo.Or four drinks, if we expanded to include mention or allusions to the Hanky Code. Please do not make a shitty political compass map out of this.The exhibit was not just gay-male oriented, but really did encompass the entire LGBTQ history of New South Wales.Note the year and try to refrain from inventing a time machine specifically to burn down a courthouse in Australia. They wouldn’t know what to do, civil unrest like that really just isn’t as much of a thing down here.Let the squinting commence! “Sydneyphiles was the debut show of architect/playwright turned photographer William Yang. Staged at the Australian Centre for Photography in 1977, Yang's diaristic display of Sydney cultural life saw over 200 photos on the walls jostling for attention like the people in the pictures. Opening night was reported as a whacko super-dooper bash', attracting every outrageous, fashionable and talked about person in town.” This is just a tiny piece of the collection.Reminder that Lawrence v. Texas was only in 2003 and there is probably currently a majority on our current highly corrupt, illegitimate court (oh check it out another Justice taking what amounts to a bribe in kind) to overturn it and there is no real indication the Democratic party will do almost anything to check them.The cops weren’t protecting queer people from getting the shit kicked out of them - because, again, ACAB - so they organized themselves.A lot of parliamentary fuckery went into what ended up being a national vote on gay marriage in 2017. It was made to be an optional vote - unlike compulsory voting for most stuff - maybe as a way of trying to drive down turnout and kill it. But it won. Big.Finally, of course, tag yourself in the comments. I was staying right on the edge of “The Gay Core Bubble” above.“You won’t feel so gay behind bars!”
I’m hitting up against the max email length so I will leave with saying this was probably the best exhibit I’ve seen - not just the content itself but the sheer quantity and quality of the work; I didn’t even mention the film of one of their early Mardi Gras playing on entrance. Surviving Australia was probably funnier, but entirely unintentionally.
