BlaQ: Dyke Bar Takeover
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When
- Where
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Address
156 FORBES STREET DARLINGHURST NSW 2010
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Hours
6.30–10PM
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Phone
+61 2 8936 0888
BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation take over Eulogy for the Dyke Bar creating a safe space that centres First Nations voices.
Estelle Clarke leads a conversation with Aunty Sue Pinckham, Ebony Williams, and Tetei Bakic Tapim to address the erasure of First Nations contributions to dyke histories. The discussion considers how colonisation has impacted the ability for people existing at the intersections of culture, sexuality, and/or gender diversity to connect with each other. This conversation is followed by an evening of music and dance with DJ Ebstar and DJ Sovereign Blak Pussy, celebrating LGBTQI+ First Nations community and signalling hope for the future.
Aunty Sue Pinckham is a proud Biripi woman with strong ongoing commitment to the LGBQIT+ and Queer Black communities, and is passionate about ensuring everyone’s voices are heard. With over fifty years of community activism, Sue leads from the background, achieving many great and positive interactions, ensuring the community are included and represented, being present at many levels across Government, Legal, Health, Education, NGO’s, Arts, Mental Health as well as Mardi Gras and the fun side of life. Sue continues to support the journeys of coming out for many in the community across decades and adventures, and is a Board Member on Sydney World Pride 2023.
Ebony Williams is a proud Wiradjuri and African American woman from Sydney, and is First Nations Engagement Manager for Sydney WorldPride 2023. Ebony has worked on major events including the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, and Sydney WorldPride offers a unique opportunity to give queer First Nations people a huge international platform. Ebony's role works very closely with the First Nations Creative Director to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQI+ communities from across the country have platforms and opportunities to see pride within themselves and to be around other black fellas who are like them.
Tetei Bakic Tapim is a Zagareb and Dauareb girl from Mer Island and Erub Island in the Torres Strait and a Bindal girl from Townsville, FNQ with Serbian and Papuan heritage. Teteit is currently the Department Coordinator for the Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Moderator: Estelle Clarke is a proud Yorta-Yorta trans woman born and raised in Boorloo and currently living on Gadigal Land. Estelle is a previous Western Australian Young Person of the Year and National Young People's Human Rights Medal Finalist for her ongoing advocacy surrounding queer and First Nations people. Estelle is currently the Training and Programs Coordinator at BlaQ based at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern, aiming to bring a strong trans scope of understanding and awareness to community.
BlaQ was established as a collective response to the identified need for a strengthened visibility of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQ+ community. Through a network of sharing, support and connection, BlaQ aims to elevate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQI+ mob from across the country in a safe and inclusive space of belonging that prioritises and reframes us as central to the conversation. “Our community has always been here, existing in the kinship structures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture since time immemorial. We are fundamental to the overall health and wellbeing of our respective communities. It’s time to recognise and honour the unique contribution of our LGBTQI+ mob!”
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Presented by UNSW Galleries, the National Art School and Sydney WorldPride, Eulogy for the Dyke Bar is an immersive installation by American artist Macon Reed, and a memorial to bygone dyke bars. The installation incorporates a café and operating bar, and functions as an active community space for performances, cruising, socialising, and contemplating the future of queer spaces.
This project aims to reclaim the term ‘dyke’ in its most expansive sense and recognises that gender and identities are complex and fluid. Anyone who identifies with, or feels an allyship with, the dyke part of the queer spectrum is welcome and valued at the dyke bar.
Images: Blaq Takeover for 'Eulogy for the Dyke Bar' at the National Art School Café, 2023. Photography: Cassandra Hannagan.