Queer in the City: 1980s Clubs, fashion and queer culture in Melbourne

Queer in the city: 1980s clubs, fashion and queer culture in Melbourne

Friday 17 March from 12:30PM - 1:30PM at RMIT Gallery

Join us for a panel discussion exploring the vibrant queer culture of 1980s Melbourne.

Moderated by Angela Bailey, Vice-President of the Australian Queer Archive, panellists will explore the role of queer clubs in the city, the fashion trends that defined the era, and the broader cultural significance of the queer community in Melbourne during the 1980s.

Journey back in time to explore the unique experiences of the city's LGBTQIA+ community during this dynamic era.

Image: Clarence Chai and Jenny Bannister - Shieks Disco, Rennie Ellis, 1981 © Rennie Ellis SLV

Panelists

Gavin Brown

Gavin Brown (b. 1964) was raised in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne. In 1982 he moved to Inner Melbourne, living in Collingwood and studying a Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art program at RMIT and completed a Post Graduate course in Fine Art (Painting) in 1984. While studying at RMIT, Gavin majored in print making, as well as painting. This saw him move into fashion and textile design between 1984 and 1988 with his inventive independent label, Plain Jane.! In 1989 he took to painting as a full-time pursuit, while also spending time as the art director and stylist for the seminal club night 7th Heaven.

Since 2000 Gavin has focused solely on his painting and artistic career. At times he has collaborated with peers on their creative projects, most notably acclaimed director Adam Elliott and his feature claymation movie Mary and Max, creating background scenes for the entire movie. More recently Gavin contributed to Phillip Adam’s Balletlab production of Aviary, creating a striking four metre by six metre backdrop for the opening act of this contemporary dance piece.

Sally Gray

Dr Sally Gray is a cultural historian, possibly best known for her work on the creative legacy of the Australian queer artist David McDiarmid. Her book Friends, Fashion and Fabulousness: The Making of an Australian Style (2017 and 2019) traced the early foundations, in 1960s Melbourne, of the creative scene around Peter Tully, Linda Jackson, Clarence Chai, Paul Craft, Murray Kelly, David McDiarmid and others, that later flowered in Sydney in the 1970s. She has contributed an essay on Melbourne fashion designer Clarence Chai to the publication for Radical Utopia.

Her Inter-disciplinary body of work can be accessed at https://sallygray.com.au/

Timothy Moore

Dr Timothy Moore is a founder of Sibling Architecture, curator of contemporary design and architecture / Melbourne Design Week at the National Gallery of Victoria, and senior lecturer in the Department of Architecture at Monash University.

At Monash, Timothy is a researcher within XYX Lab that looks at the relationship between gender, sexuality, equity and architecture. In this capacity, he has recently contributed to the publications Queering Architecture: Methods, Practices, Spaces, Pedagogies (2023), Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQ+ Places and Stories (2022) and Contentious Cities: Design and the Gendered Production of Space (2021) and the 'Exploring gender-sensitive design' dossier (2020) of Architecture Australia.

Timothy has also worked at architecture offices in Melbourne, Amsterdam and Berlin, and as an editor for four influential magazines, Volume, Architecture Australia, Future West (Australian Urbanism) and They Shoot Homos Don't They?. He co-founded the Melbourne dance parties Trough and John with Nik Dimopoulos in the 2000s.

Moderator

Angela Bailey

Angela Bailey is a curator, photographer and creative producer who actively promotes and interprets our rich and diverse histories by creating exhibitions, installations, discourse and public programs of engagement. Angela has a Postgraduate Degree in Fine Arts from the VCA, a Master of Art Curatorship from University of Melbourne and is currently a Fellow at Arts Centre Melbourne and vice president of the Australian Queer Archives.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

RMIT Gallery, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Australia