Walking Tour: Rebel Dykes, Miss Thing

studio voltaire open studios

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Sunday, October 7, 2018

Ritzy Cinema, Coldharbour Ln, Brixton SW2 1JG

For this, the latest in our series of Rainbow Aphorisms walking tours, Fisch from the London Rebel Dykes and researcher Milo Bettocchi, formerly of the south London queer squatting collective House of Brag, explore the history of 1980s lesbian London – from the Brixton Black Women’s Group in the 1970s, to the stories of the Rebel Dykes of the 1980s, right up to the House of Brag in the present day.

Route:

The tour will start outside the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton and end at Studio Voltaire.

Tickets:

£3. Early booking is recommended as spaces are strictly limited. Buy ticket here. 

About the contributors:

Fisch (Karen Fisher) is a member of the London Rebel Dykes and squatted in South London during the 1980’s. She performs as Drag King Frankie Sinatra, producing and hosting the very popular night King of Clubs at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, which features luminaries of the groundbreaking Drag King scene.

Milo Bettocchi, formerly of the House of Brag (a south London queer squatting collective) is now a PhD student researching histories of anti-racist, feminist and LGBTQIA squatting in Brixton.

About Rainbow Aphorisms Walking Tours:

This series of walking tours invites artists, writers and academics to reflect on aspects of the work of late artist and activist David McDiarmid, including his Rainbow Aphorisms series, which are currently installed across sites in Clapham, Brixton and on the London Underground as part of Clapham Public Realm Programme.

Using the Rainbow Aphorisms as a starting point, the tours traverse Clapham and wider South London, stopping at key sites of interest and taking a closer look at different aspects of gay culture as well as the impact and legacy of the AIDS crisis. Previous tours have been hosted by Theo Gordon and Catwalk4PowerHuw Lemmey, and Paul Flynn.

About Rainbow Aphorisms:

David McDiarmid’s Rainbow Aphorisms are a series of public works shown intermittently across sites in Clapham and Brixton, in partnership with This is Clapham and Art on the Underground. Over the course of a year, artworks will appear at various locations including neighbouring LGBTQ+ venue Two Brewers, the façade of Studio Voltaire, Brixton Underground station, and other temporary locations.

David McDiarmid (1952–1995) was an Australian artist, designer and activist, recognised for his prominent and sustained artistic engagement in issues relating to queer identity and history. Rainbow Aphorisms are a series of printed multiples, produced from 1993 until the artist’s death in 1995 of AIDS–related illnesses. McDiarmid produced these works in response to his own, and his community’s, experience of the AIDS crisis, and the multiple forms of devastations it manifests –political, emotional, intellectual and medical.

This is the first solo institutional presentation of McDiarmid’s work in the UK, and the inaugural project in the Clapham Public Real Programme delivered by Studio Voltaire in partnership with This is Clapham. The project has been mounted with the support and involvement of the David McDiarmid Estate, Sydney. The public programme is supported by Arts Council England.

Learn more about David McDiarmid, Rainbow Aphorisms