Queer Histories

In the period 1998-2005 I found myself immersed in doctoral study, researching the experiences of gay/bi men who are educators, curious about how they manage and perform their identities in the range of personal-professional spaces that they traversed in their lives. In sharing their experiences, my participants were generous to a tee which produced the interesting situation of being awash with data which although wonderful, then produced a new challenge of how to undertake some sort of meaningful analysis to elicit the key themes in their stories.

One day I happened across Douglas Harper’s insightful paper (Harper, 2002) in which he proposed ‘that photo elicitation enlarges the possibilities of conventional empirical research…photo elicitation also produces a different kind of information…evokes information, feelings, and memories that are due to the photograph's particular form of representation’. I had found my way in – I needed a mural on which I could juxtapose extracts from my story, participant’s stories and images of the spaces we traversed.

Two stages lead to the construction of the mural. The first involved the acquisition and use of black and white photographs, a technique for which I am indebted to Mignot, (2000). I set off with a camera loaded with black and white film to photograph a series of sites and images that represented ideas that I had about the gay teacher experience. Some sites were chosen as the exact locations of my direct experience - others were chosen more for their representational or image potential. The sites representing education experience were fairly easy to locate, being mainly located in the secondary school in which I was then working. The sites representing gay identity were more problematic. How is it possible to represent the gay aspect of my experience in terms of photographic imagery? At this time, I had become intrigued by the notion of how geographical space is delineated in terms of sexualities. Brent Ingram, Bouthilette and Retter (1997) argue that some geographical spaces function as sites of resistance for the ‘queer community’. This is an important influence in the design of the mural and informed my thinking on how I used different areas of the canvas to reflect different discourses relating to sexuality and identity.

Arguably, a range of gay community spaces exist ranging from bars, pubs and clubs of the ‘commercial gay scene’ to more liminal spaces frequented by men who have sex with men, such as public parks and cruising areas. In selecting a representational space I chose the latter, photographing a cruising area located on a canal towpath that flanks a public park in an inner-city area. The location is rich in imagery – the stark winter landscape produced some striking images that were powerfully captured by the black and white film.00000000

Creating a montage

The second stage was the actual physical construction of the mural in the form of a montage, together with the acquisition of a purpose-built cardboard box for its transportation, brought some interesting learning about the intrinsic interest and curiosity that individuals have in visual imagery, ‘story’ and the contents of large cardboard boxes! The following anecdotes illustrate what I mean.

I began working at the photocopier at my university base and from the outset those around asked questions about what I was doing – the photographs interested them as did the enlarging/reducing activity. The same phenomenon also manifested itself when I began to assemble the mural in an empty teaching room. Students with whom I had never had conversations, came to look and ask questions about what I was doing. I can vividly recall the energy and strong feelings that the process generated. The power of the activity gripped me like a drug and I became aware of a rising tide of anger triggered I suspect, by the material that I was handling. I started at about 3.00pm with the intention of going home at 5pm. I was still there at 8.30pm and the process seemed to take on a momentum of its own.

The level of interest did not stop there either. Some months later, I transported the mural in its box to the European Conference of Education Research held in Edinburgh 2001. Again, the questions came thick and fast from airline check-in staff and taxi drivers alike. ‘What was in the box?’ ‘What did I mean by my story?’ The experience was challenging. What should I disclose? What should I not disclose? In retrospect, the prominent labels on the box that read ‘fragile’ and ‘passenger baggage’ had more than a little irony.

Immediate learning: surfacing conscious awareness

In constructing the mural, I began by constructing a visual framework that surrounds the whole piece. At first glance the imagery is one of a fretwork – I created the image by photocopying and enlarging a photograph that I took of the winter sky as seen through the bare branches of trees. The effect gives the mural an enclosed, contained feel – this has metaphorical as well as visual significance, an issue I will return to later.

The main canvas of the mural consists of two main parts representing teacher experience and gay experience; I used the image of the park railings crossing diagonally from one corner to another to separate the two. The use of the park railings photograph immediately struck me in terms of its potential for representing the interface between the two aspects of experience. The railings themselves in physical terms are a permeable barrier – it is easy to see through them to the environment on the other side. The implications of this in metaphorical terms, is that the notion of permeability opens up the potential for movement from one side to the other with all the implications for identity, context and movement in writing an account of participant’s stories.

I was interested in two other photographic images that I acquired on the canal towpath. Apart from maintenance of the railings, there was other evidence that the local authority had taken measures to deter the nocturnal activity of cruising men. Considerable remedial work was being undertaken on the towpath including the cutting back of trees and the installation of CCTV on the approach to the canal from a street nearby. Someone had sprayed the phrase ‘crude cure’ on a concrete wall adjacent to the towpath – this may or may not have connection with the clean-up campaign and it struck me as an interesting statement in that context. If I am honest, it quite appeals to my sense of the transgressive or subversive. 000

This mural became a game changer - I had found my way in and I could move forward! An unexpected outcome was my liking of it as a piece of art. In retrospect, it was definitely an antecedent of my post-retirement artistic endeavours.

In case they’re of interest, the sources cited above are:

Brent Ingram, G., Bouthilette, A. and Retter, Y. (1997) Queers in Space: Communities, Public Places, Sites of Resistance, Seattle: Bay Press

Harper, D. 2002. Talking about pictures: a case for photo elicitation. Visual Studies Volume 17, Number 1

Mignot, P (2000) Using visual methods in careers education and guidance, Pastoral Care in Education, June 2000