Text to accompany a maquette created for Great Yarmouth. This was an MA brief to create a model of a sculpture in response to Great Yarmouth. i created a series of Peep boards, ideally, I’d like to create an entire Queer Joyland, so as to see myself there in an venue that’s not centered around alcohol - but just Queer Joy.

Exhibited in the window at Primyarc May 2024

Don’t see myself here
Don’t see myself in JoyLand
Don’t see myself reflected in the windows of the family restaurants, steamed up with the breath of heteronormativity.

See my reflection, distorted, wrong, other.
See the looks of the passerby, the hastily grabbed hand of the child who stares.
See the shame

A reflection of how when there is a glimmer of validity, it’s surrounded by false truth.
It must be Ok now.
There was a lesbian on the telly.
One of those nice ones, that looks normal. Could even pass for straight.

Not a fat, trans, butch dyke.

Enter the toilet with trepidation, how one might tentatively step into the ghost train. Will it be as frightening as the last time?
The words are waiting on people’s lips.
Lurking by the hand dryer.
This is the ladies.

Wear a mask
Wear a courageous persona
Wear a secret smile for the other lesbian couple on the pier, the subtle nod of recognition.
Take off the cloak of invisibility
Stick your head through the glory hole, peep out and show your identity.

Turn around. The shame is turned into joy
Turn the pleasure of the butch, the subversion of gender into a separate world.
Turn up for Queer.

We can ride the bikes and the truck never hits us
The armour protects
The superdyke is there for all the emergencies.
We can choose our family
Better
Queer JoyLand