This panel discussion forms part of our LGBTQ History Month programming, devised by our LGBTQIA+ Network. To learn more about our Networks and to help shape their future please email diversity@sahgb.org.uk. It also forms part of our ongoing seminar series co-supported by the Institute of Historical Research and organised in collaboration with the Oxford Architectural History Seminar. For more information on the series click here.
Pixellated Image of Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond, near to Hampstead, Camden, London, 21 April 2010. Adapted by Lo Marshall from Geography.org.uk
Wanc Cafe flyer, 2002. ‘In terms of an architectural intervention, it was acutely radical, but also in terms of a women's space’
Hosted by the SAHGB LGBTQ+ network, this panel will introduce four initiatives that are concerned with the recognition, protection or creation of spaces for trans and non-binary communities in London. We will explore how these connect with or run counter to venues, neighbourhoods, urban processes and conceptions of heritage. Discussions of these four present-day activist and research projects will provoke reflection on how spaces associated with trans and non-binary communities relate to, or distinguish themselves from, other queer spaces in the past and present. In the context of the SAHGB's LGBTQ+ network, we will also discuss how the society can contribute to projects of trans architectural and urban history and heritage.
Photo: Megan Key
Online panel: presentations + discussion + Q&A
Lo Marshall – Troubled waters: the Hampstead Ladies' Pond in the 'Trans Debate'
Sebastian Buser – Trans-poiesis: musing on architectural history and discomfort
ShayShay, founder of The ShayShay Show & The Bitten Peach – Creating spaces trans & non-binary communities and the queer Asian community.
Jo Alloway, June Lam and Sophie Gwen Williams – We Exist
Co-supported and co-organised by Nite Spaces: Migration, Culture and Integration in Europe.
Sebastian Buser is an artist/architectural researcher focusing on queer DIY spaces examined through trans studies, queer theory, feminist philosophy, performance studies and experimental academic writing practices. Sebastian is currently undertaking a PhD in Architectural History and Theory at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, supervised by Jane Rendell and Ben Campkin and funded by the London Arts & Humanities Partnership. This research aims to develop a trans approach to the practice of architectural history by focusing on the unexamined history of the Women’s Anarchist Nuisance Café (WANC) which took place across London from 1998–2012.
Lo Marshall researches and teaches urban geographies of gender and sexuality as a Research Fellow at the UCL Urban Laboratory and Bartlett School of Architecture, and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography, UCL. Lo’s doctoral research explores gender diversity in Britain through the lived experiences of trans and non-binary people. Collaborating with Prof Ben Campkin, Lo has researched and published on LGBTQ+ Nightlife in London, guest edited Urban Pamphleteer #7 (Campkin, Marshall and Ross 2018), co-curated a ‘Queer Salon’ at the Museum of London (2018) and contributed to ‘Queer Spaces: London, 1980s – Today', at The Whitechapel Gallery, London (2019), and ‘Electronic: From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers’, at the Design Museum, London (2020-2021).
ShayShay (they/them) is a half-Irish half-Japanese non-binary nightlife producer, drag artist, writer and director working to empower London’s queer community through entertainment and education. They are dedicated to raising marginalised voices, creating platforms for diverse representation and educating children and families. ShayShay is one of the founders of the Pan-Asian cabaret collective The Bitten Peach, whose mission is to empower the queer Asian community by providing safe spaces, diversifying Asian representation, and educating non-Asians on racial issues. ShayShay has produced and directed shows with the Bitten Peach at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, The National Theatre, and the Underbelly Festival.
We Exist is a Trans* led, community focused grassroots project formed in a direct response to Healthcare inadequacies offered by the current government and the rise of transphobia within the UK. We Exist has taken up spaces physically, as a direct response to these issues. In November, they created a new pop up community space for Trans* people in Shoreditch and studio space for 40 Trans* Artists in central London. In 2021, the project will continue curate more spaces across London all with the purpose of raising funds and awareness on Trans* Healthcare and to bring the Trans* community together.
Credits: Logo by Melissa Mehrtens
Socials : Twit/ Inst/FB @weexistlondon @weexistlondon @weexistlondon
ShayShay. Photo by Eivind Hansen
Photo by Megan Key
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