In the wake of the sensational premier of The Rebel Dykes Documentary Film at BFI Flare, we are proud to announce THE REBEL DYKES ART & ARCHIVE SHOW Live Performance Art Event. This event is produced by Rebel Dykes History Project CiC.
THE REBEL DYKES ART & ARCHIVE SHOW seeks to provide an intergenerational, and intersectional exchange between artists who are working to redefine the constructs of art and identity, specifically in relation to the queer heritage and archive.
The Rebel Dykes originated in the 1980s as a group that merged outsider cultures to create fresh feminist explorations of art, sex and activism.
THE REBEL DYKES ART & ARCHIVE SHOW brings this group of artists back together for the first time in almost 40 years and unites important underrepresented cultural histories with contemporary culture; inviting a variety of younger artists to exhibit new works alongside the dykes who paved their way.
Curator Karen Fischer has selected performance and spoken word artists from across various strands of Dyke intergenerational art.
Joelle Taylor is an award-winning poet, playwright and author. She is the author of 3 full poetry collections and 3 plays. and is currently completing her debut book of short stories The Night Alphabet, with support from the Arts Council. Her new poetry collection C+NTO & Othered Poems was published in June 2021 by Westbourne Press. She has recently been commissioned to develop her spoken word theatre show BuUerfly Fist to tour throughout 2021/2022. Joelle is the host and co-curator of Out-Spoken, the UK’s Centre’s premier poetry and music club, currently resident at the Southbank Centre Purcell Room. A Radio 4 documentary featuring poems from C+NTO and presented by Joelle, Butch, was broadcast in May 2020.
Tommy Rimmerson was born out of a hatred for the far right and a deep love for big beats, Tommy is a political king intent on bringing down the bigots one bop at a time. Smash the Fash but Make it Camp. @notallmen_drag
Chiyo is the UK’s Drag provocateur. Chiyo blurs the boundaries between Drag, Burlesque, Sex Work, and Activism. Brother in the Haus of Melanin, Resident Artist with The Cocoa Butter Club, Harpies Stripper, Writer, and the first ever Trans man to compete for Mr Gay England, Chiyo navigates the Drag scene with a ferocious desire to take up space - and he sure as hell is doing so.
Karen Fisch, often known as Fisch: Artist, activist, archivist, and icon. Fisch is one of the stars of the newly released kick-arse punk film Rebel Dykes. In the 1980s she jointly ran the infamous sex positive club Chain Reaction, lived at Greenham Common, rode with all-lesbian biker gang The Black Widows and was heavily involved in London activism against Section 28. The film motivated Fisch to write and perform the award nominated one woman show Rebel Dyke Live, which follows the history of LGBTQ+ Pride through her lens as a mainstream outsider. She now performs in drag as King Frankie Sinatra, hosting and producing London’s largest drag king night, Kings of Clubs, at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, since 2017. She finds joy, hope and inspiration in working with the young drag community: talented and highly politically aware queer, trans and non-binary people of colour.
We will be confirming our final performer soon.
FUNDED BY NATIONAL LOTTERY HERITAGE FUND, ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND, INDEPENDENT FILM TRUST, SPACESTATION SIXTY-FIVE, DAVID FAMILY FOUNDATION AND REBEL DYKES HISTORY PROJECT CIC