Miyagawa Issho, 1750
Joe Nickols
I am an Art Historian, Curator, Writer, and Presenter from Yorkshire. I centre disruptors in my curatorial practice, regularly working with queer and trans artists. I have collaborated with a number of contemporary artists on exhibition projects, video content, and creative opportunities. My History of Art/Archaeology dissertation at SOAS (University of London) explored representations of gender and sexual non-conformity in 1920s Japanese performance art. This built on my passion for social subversion and breaking barriers. In May 2023, I launched
NCLUSIV WORLD, an online podcast and platform that promotes Queer and Trans creativity. This project champions the variety of ways artists and creatives challenge conventions and oppressions, whether it is through cooking or on the canvas. You can listen to the podcast here:
Spotify or
Apple Music.
This Sapling reading list was devised to both expand and complicate the concept of queerness. Queerness is a personal and social experience that is often simplified in public discourse. Queerness is felt differently across the globe, and is in flux across time and space. I chose these entries to demonstrate the diversity and variety of queerness. By expanding the boundaries of queerness, more people can feel accepted and have a personal freedom that is otherwise removed from their lived experience. My curatorial practice strives to break down restrictions and assumptions. These selections all work towards that same objective, using a variety of approaches.
Queerness
Gossett, Reina, Eric A Stanley, and Johanna Burton, eds.
Trap Door: Trans cultural production and the politics of Visibilty. (2017).
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://transreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-31_5ca10a725996e_reina-gossett-trap-door-trans-cultural-production-and-the-politics-of-visibility.pdf
An essential book for anyone interested in cultural production relating to the trans experience. The edited collection of essays, interviews, conversations, dossiers, and photographs grapples with the contradictory increase of public visibility of trans people, in tandem with the oppression trans rights.
Prosser, Jay. Second Skins: The Body Narratives of Transsexuality (1998).
Second skins : the body narratives of transsexuality | WorldCat.org
Jay Prosser examines the experience of the body for trans people and the complexities involved in forming a body that reflects one’s identity.
Screech, Timon. Sex and the Floating World Erotic Images
in Japan 1700-1820. London: Reaktion Books (2009).
Sex and the floating world : erotic images in Japan, 1700-1820 | WorldCat.org
Timon Screech discusses representations of sex and sexuality in a book that touches on sexualities that don’t exist in European history.
Griffiths, D. (2015). Queer Theory for Lichens. UnderCurrents: Journal of Critical Environmental Studies, 19, 36–45.
Queer Theory for Lichens | UnderCurrents: Journal of Critical Environmental Studies (yorku.ca)
This article opens up a whole new way of perceiving the individual body as a collective rather than a singular entity. This offers fresh perspectives on our sense of human totality as our body is comprised of bacteria, viruses, and foreign microganisms. This presents new ideas around the relationship of AIDS/HIV and the body.
Rhodes, Stuart Linden. Out & About with Linden:
A Queer Archive of the North (2023).
OUT & ABOUT WITH LINDEN : a queer archive of the north | WorldCat.org
An insight into the Northern nightlife of the late 20th Century. Explore the vibrance and variety of queer celebration.
The Otherness Archive
The Otherness Archive is a phenomenal resource of queer cinema and its pioneers. There are numerous films that encapsulate the complexities and variety of the queer and trans experience.
Museum of Transology
Collections — Museum of Transology is a collection of objects that represent the lives of trans, non-binary, and intersex people. The Museum ensures that there can be no erasure of the lives and experiences of queer and trans people. The museum is still collecting objects and welcomes submissions through the website.
The Black Trans Archive
The Black Trans Archive was created by the artist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, who seeks to use technology to capture the black trans experience. The work creates new environments to explore the role of the body and mind in transness.
Tabitha Nikolai
Tabitha Nikolai - itch.io is an artist who is making queer videogames that would have sustained Tabitha’s younger self. Queer people often have to mature faster to take care of themselves and these games offer a chance to return and soothe that inner child.
