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No more, [00:00:30] um, or or, uh um I call call Roger Swanson. I will call. Um uh [00:01:00] uh uh um um uh uh. Um, yeah. Um, I [00:01:30] mm. Thank you for all being here today. Um, I'm gonna be short and sweet, but I just got a few things to say, uh, to let you know how it's gonna run. [00:02:00] My name is Caitlyn. Um, I'm just doing some behind the scenes work, just helping things going. Uh, but yeah, I've been lucky enough to be involved in this amazing project. Uh, that will is gonna talk to us more about before we get into that. I've got a few, uh, health and safety things to keep note of. If there's an earthquake drop, cover hold, um, and be aware of the glass, so yeah, try. Try, be centred. And there's some tables at the back. Uh, the bathrooms the are out [00:02:30] in the corridor and the steel well in the corridor over there. Um, but just let us know if you can't find them either. Uh, our ground floor ones are gender neutral. Um, and finally, if there's a another kind of emergency or alarm goes or whatever, Um the staff here will guide us out. So just follow their lead. Yeah. So now will's gonna talk a bit about what this project is. Why, how it came about, um, and why? Why? It's important or why we had such a good time doing it. And then [00:03:00] we're gonna let some of the participants come up here and just speak a little bit about about their page or their experience of exploring. Uh um, yeah. And then we'll close off the ceremony with a formal submission of A to the archives to, you know, tie up all the awesome cool. Right? I'll let will take it away. Thank you, everyone. Thank you so so so much for being here. I'm feeling [00:03:30] really overwhelmed with the amount of support and everyone that showed up. We were expecting, like, 15 people. So, you know, thank you so much for coming out. Um, for those who don't know me, my name is Will Hanson. I'm a wannabe queer historian and a trustee of the Lisbon and Gay Archives of New Zealand. Uh, otherwise known as Gans. Um, yeah. Thank you so much for coming along to this event. This is the first launch party of the collaboration between Lagan and Wellington Zine Fest for the first edition of [00:04:00] our collaborative zine that we made hopefully the first of many, um, events and zines that we'll have, uh, we call this. The archive is alive because history is always talking to us, and it sounds cliche, but it's important that we listen and that we learn to listen well, something that I've learned when I've been studying history for the last few years is that the ability to listen to and learn from history is really a skill that everyone is always engaged in. Um, And for queer people, it can often be a life saving [00:04:30] one. Um, learning the legacies of queer struggle and queer joy and queer everything else. Um, uh, the kind of everything that we're born into that has been silenced that has been suppressed, that has been taken away from us. Um, gives us a sense of belonging, a sense of place, a sense of pride and a sense of power. Our histories are so important, and I believe that our histories do sit at the heart of our activism. You know, for me personally, um, history is absolutely vital, as when I'm feeling hopeless. [00:05:00] I think about all of the change that my queer elders, my queer ancestors have made and how that means that I can make change to how things have changed so much before now and how things will inevitably change in the future. We also called the zine The archive is alive. Um, as a reflection of the fact that despite attempts to erase queer history and specifically to, um, destroy Lagan, Lagan was subject to an arson attack in 1986. Um, the archive still [00:05:30] is here. The archive is still alive, still thriving. Another title we played around with. But we ended up discussing it because it just didn't really fit on the cover was the presence of Queer History, which was a play on words supposed to indicate that queer history is a gift. It's so something that is so important and heartwarming and joyful for us to explore, but also to indicate the fact that history is constantly unfolding, that it's not just about, um, the past, the past, but also about what's happening today [00:06:00] and the fact that we need to try really hard to document it especially in this digital age when things are getting lost because they're posted on Facebook events and such, and then once they're taken down, they get lost to the Internet. So it's about kind of really giving people that sense that what's happening today is queer history, and it is important. And it is important to be archived. Yeah, this project came about, uh, between, uh conversations with me and Caitlin, uh, Caitlin from Wellington Fest because we both felt this real importance [00:06:30] of archives of history. And we also felt the inaccessibility of both of these, um, both of these institutions, you know, both of us have been really lucky to study, uh, history courses up at university and they bring you down to the archives, and they give you a really warm welcome to the archives. But for people who, um, just don't have I never had access to an archive before. I've never been able to go to an archive. Um, it can be really intimidating and a really daunting place. Um, and although, you know, we try really hard at LA to make [00:07:00] history accessible, we are entirely volunteer run and we rely on grants and the good will of donors, uh, to survive. Um, so you know, if you want to see our archives, you have to be in person, in Wellington on site, um, and you have to have the confidence and the privilege to negotiate these kinds of institutions. So again, yeah, it can be really daunting. So we're always trying to create new pathways of access. Uh, one exciting thing that's happening, which hopefully a lot of you have already heard about is that, uh, Ganz is going to digitise our archives [00:07:30] soon, so that's really exciting. Um, that will make things so much easier for everyone to, um to access. People will just be able to google, you know, trend history and will come up, and they will be able to see the primary resource for themselves, which I think will make a huge difference. Um, but in the meantime, you know, I've been thinking a lot about, um how to, um, make the gas more accessible for the kinds of communities that I'm part of, um, trans communities, young queer communities. [00:08:00] Um, and so talking with, uh, with Caitlin and with the rest of the crew at Wellington fest. Um we came up with this project because we hope it will be helpful for our community. And we kind of join together in this belief that that, you know, queer youth need to be uplifted and knowing, um that they are queer history in the making that their lives are important. And just as their lives are important, so are their archives. Um, so I hope that everyone who engages at the scene, uh, can feel, uh, understand that and feel [00:08:30] that same emotion. So, um, this project began with a call for a small group of participants, Um, for an intensive two-day workshop the first day we had here at the National Library. Thank you to the National Library and Hannah in particular for hosting us. Where have you gone, Hannah? Uh, thanks, Hannah. Most important place to be, um, Hannah helped us so, So much printed out stacks and stacks of things. Um, So and, um, helped us navigate the world of the Alexander [00:09:00] Tumble Library's photo stream, which is now littered with naked gay male images. So, um, I'm really sorry to anyone who got really surprising those Thank you, Hannah, for putting up with all of that. Um so day one was here with Hannah with the national Library. Roger Swanson from LA who's really one. He's the life blood of, um, we were so lucky to hear from him about his involvement in the organisation Um, his own journey with with archiving and with queer history. Um, And then I gave a [00:09:30] couple of talks about how we can engage critically with our histories and our archives. Um, and we had lots of really cool discussions about this. We talked about, um, questions like, how can Lagan make itself more useful for, um, for our, you know, diverse queer communities? Um, how can Gans take more of a role in activism? Lagan was founded as an aid for the national Gay Rights Coalition, Um, which was an activist organisation that sprung out of gay liberation. So how does how does that activist history translate to today [00:10:00] All of these kinds of things we considered, um And then finally the participants were given the opportunity to sit down with the archives and have, like, a good in depth look at them. I really wish we'd had, like, two weeks to run this workshop because you could spend so, so long. Just, um, talking about all of this and sitting down looking at the archives. But unfortunately, we only had the days. So we did that all in one big long day, thanks to all the participants for getting through all of that. And, uh, day two. So I head over to Masuko, which is on street. It's a, um, new place that started up. Um, that's [00:10:30] really important to support, uh, because they're doing a lot of creative stuff in the community, and they gave us the space to start designing our So we did all of the cool. All everything you see in here was all made made there out of the photocopies that Hannah painstakingly printed off for us. Um, yeah, and that was really, really fun. Um, I think that I'm really, really happy with the final product. Um, I just Yeah, I just wish that we had more time to do even more, but, um, printing cost is a lot, so it's probably good [00:11:00] we don't, uh I just want to say some final Thank you. Thank you. Roger and Hannah. Uh, for all of the efforts you've put into making this workshop work. We just just couldn't have done it without you. Um, and the knowledge and the skill and the patience and the time and the patience, Um, that you brought, uh, to working with us. Um, thank you. Uh, Liam and Caitlyn from Wellington. This all started with just us having a little chat. Um, and you guys actually made it a reality, which is really cool. You worked so hard on getting the funding application, Um, [00:11:30] and just doing all of that organisational stuff that goes right over my head. So, um, you know, thank you for your passion and your dedication to local creatives. Um, and Lucy as well. I'm always so impressed with Wellington's infest and the way that you support local creatives and local communities. And if you don't know Wellington Zen Fist, I feel like most of you are here because of them. But if you don't know them, definitely check them out. They're, like, the most one of the most important and vital institutions that we have in, um really uplifting, uplifting local creatives. So turning dreams into realities, [00:12:00] as in this case. So thank you, Wellington Zan fist. Thank you, Caitlyn. And Liam and Lucy. Um, who else? Oh, and lastly, I want to thank all of the all of our contributors. So Aish. Wallace Buckland Andrew McAuley, Caitlyn Lynch Kiera O'Callaghan, Compas Ramsey, Emma Hurley, Frankie Barrio kfa hunt. Liam GTA um, on me. Um, then thank you to me. No, thank you to everyone, [00:12:30] Um, for participating. I'm really, really stoked with it. I hope you guys are all stoked with it. It came out so well. We spent so long at warehouse station. You bring this out. Um, and also everyone be sure to check out the hidden little sticker envelope. We printed out Some stickers stick those around. People have been tearing down my stickers. I stick them right back up. And now you all have some stickers to stick up too. So thanks so much for coming along. Um, and listening to me ramble. [00:13:00] So now, do any of the contributors wanna come up and talk about their end pages? Yeah. Um, hi. I'm not gonna talk for long because I hope that the zine kind of talks for itself. Um, but this was a really cool experience for me. I think [00:13:30] it was very validating it kind of was 0 to 100. Like a lot of the time when you're looking for queer representations or history, it's like you're looking for like a needle in a haystack or you watch like, eight seasons of a TV show to find the one maybe lesbian couple. I don't know. Um, so being able just being bombarded with, like, pages and pages of like, um, queer history that wasn't just like I don't know, orientated around law reform [00:14:00] or suffering was very empowering. And I made this page that to reclaim the past, um, the future is clearer. It's fine, um, kind of to like represent something that I saw as like ubiquitous between what we looked at from decades and decades decades ago and what I see in my own life, which is like queer joy, queer dancing, queer, partying and smiling and fun and love. And I think [00:14:30] it's really important to represent that, And that's we should talk about that just as much as we talk about suffering and oppression, because that is what queer people are as well, you know, we don't just die at the end of movies. We don't just cry because we can't get married. Um, we don't just have unrequited love. It's for me. And like, probably every queer person I know and every and looking through these, um, archives as well, like this magazine called Devotion, which was [00:15:00] all about devotees and what you love and queer dance parties. And, you know, there was so much positivity in that, and I think that's something I really bought. Um, like I took away from from this experience and something that we should all remember, um, and kind of the idea of countering mainstream narratives of LGBT plus history, um, and celebrating love as much as we kind of mourn suffering and loss, which is also a really [00:15:30] important part. But we shouldn't orientate kind of LGBT history around how we've been treated. It should be about how we treat each other. And all I see from like, even just an example of this workshop is just like love and interest and curiosity, and I, like, feel lucky to be queer. I don't feel like it's, um, something sad. So I feel like that's why I put this page. Um, yeah, and just [00:16:00] so yeah, just a shout out to all the people on that page and all the people in Wellington and that were there. And Liam and And Will and Caitlin and everyone who organised this whole workshop because it made me very happy And also emotional. So Yeah, Thank you. We've got Compass and Keeper coming to talk to us next. Yeah, [00:16:30] uh, we're trans. So we did pages about that, which is super fun. We enjoyed it very much. Um, yeah, I, I think going into this Oh, wait. I also put together the page that has all of the naked men on it. That was Yeah. That one. Yeah. You're welcome. Yes, There it is. Yeah. So basically, this the the green page there. Kiera and I did together. It was, like, right at the end of the second day, and we were like, Oh, no, we finished everything. What should [00:17:00] we do now and then, um, I basically just, like glued gender to a page, and then we just kind of went with that, and we were like, what is gender? And then we were like, gender is really stupid. Um, So, um, some examples that we have up there is like, gender is everything that I've dropped on the floor so far. Um, dermatologists hate it. All of that sort of stuff we have Casper the Friendly Ghost. Um, which was K's contribution. Loved it very much. That wasn't the only contribution. I promise. Every all of the the like pictures on there [00:17:30] are from because I sat there and been like, Oh, what should I write down then actually went and did stuff? Um, yeah. Um Then this next page is my page that I did by myself. Um, but being non binary because being non-binary is like, super sexy. Um, and all of these quotes there are from trans care, um, which was a magazine that I don't really know that much about. But they have, like, really cute things in them. Just being like being Trans is like, really awesome. I wanted to put [00:18:00] that on a page and just be like there wasn't really anything about being non-binary in the archives just because that language didn't really exist back then. So I was like, I'm I'm gonna make it myself. So that, like the next archives, like non-binary, people can look at it and be like, Oh, yeah, that existed. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. So I made the, um, next couple pages which are quite like minimalistic, but, um, I want to focus on the fact that, like, throughout my oh, by the way, that's me and my boyfriend who is here. So shout out to him. [00:18:30] Um, um and I wanted to focus on the fact that, like, I think I've grown a lot throughout my own like, trans journey because I started off being like nobody can know. I'm Trans. I gotta like transition. And then I got to be like, this is hideous guy you've ever seen. And then it's like nobody can know, ever. And then it was like through events such as these, and like meeting other like, wonderful trans people. Um, I realised that actually, it's OK to be proud to be trans and like, I'm OK with people knowing. And I think it's cool that people know. [00:19:00] Um, and I got, like, I had to focus on, um, top surgery scars because I got top surgery in January of this year, Um, which was, like, a really big thing for me because it was like I could I could suddenly switch from like, hating my body to like actually enjoying it. And I enjoy living in my trans body. Um, and I focused on that because, um, near the start of it, I was like, I'm gonna have and like, that's fine. And like, it's gonna be kind of weird and my nipples be kind of weird, but that's fine. And now it's like now it's like like [00:19:30] I have scars and I think they're awesome. And I like looking at them in the mirror and, like, my nipples kind of aren't fully coloured. But I'm proud of my body because I managed to heal that way, and it's like it was a big surgery. So I'm like, proud and I appreciate how my body healed. Um, so I wanted to focus on that and then sort of the just the idea of, like, it's beautiful to be Trans. And I'm like, so proud of all my Trans who, like, exist like that because it can be hard. But I appreciate it so much. Um, and I also really [00:20:00] appreciate my family for helping me get top surgery. And like when I first transitioned the person who was like on it straight away was my little sister. And I don't think I've ever heard her muck up. Ever. Um, even though she's literally known me her whole life as, um, like, maybe something else for a little bit. Um, but yeah. So this is a really important experience to me. Especially as I'm moving to palmy next year because it's, like, my final sort of thing of like leaving something behind [00:20:30] with the queer Wellington community. Um, even though I'll like be back because, like, this is my home, it's like I. I like the idea of having something permanent in the archives to be like, Yeah, that's me. So yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, does anyone else wanna share anything? Yeah. Eish. [00:21:00] Oh, So I did a couple of pages, and then I come from a yeah. History, pure history, background, looking at queer history. So I thought, um, it'd be interesting to sort of capture the vibe of what we were going for with the workshop and sort of reclaiming our history and making history as well has already talked about, um, through making this scene. So excuse me. Um, so the at the bottom [00:21:30] here is parts from the Pink Triangle magazine. Um, and I I'm sure a lot of you are aware of what the pink triangle symbolises, but, um, so there's, like, a little explanation of how it was used during the Second World War for homosexual men and, um, in concentration camps and sort of like a bit about how, during sort of gay liberation time, sort of reclaiming that symbol that was used as something to demarcate and oppress, Um, and sort of making [00:22:00] that part of our own, uh, sort of joy in history like switching that up and then at the top was this part from, uh, also from Pink Triangle magazine, uh, about reclaiming the past and looking for, um it was mostly focused on queer women in the past and looking for that sort of history. There's a bit where it's like Joan of Arc. Um uh and me sort of vibe. Sort of like making those connections to people in the past, Um, which [00:22:30] I thought was just really cool with all images as well. Sort of. Someone else has put those together, and I've now stolen them and put them on my cool. Do you want to go to the next one, and then I've also done a, um, a page that sort of took snippets from Yeah, this one took snippets from, uh, the Michael I papers and the magazine bitches, Witches and dykes. Um, and sort of. I was just sort of looking for things that I think is still sort of relevant to [00:23:00] queer community and protest and, um, things that we talk about now And like looking at where that is in the past and how it might have been talked about then, as opposed to now. So there's, like, bits about, um, the treaty screwing capitalism over, but about the police. Um, this is really fun cartoon. Sort of like in the top. Right? Where it's these two, lesbian lovers. Uh, and the little caption is, uh, first of all, why don't we talk about politics before this goes [00:23:30] any further? It was fun. Um, yeah, just looking at, like, those intersectional struggles or ideas that we still talk about now, which I thought was cool to find that in the archive. Yeah. So that's my any last last thoughts. Cool. Ok, well, I think they will move on to our final event [00:24:00] of the evening. The official handover. Um, so So we've got Rhonda here from Well, do you want it? You should do it. So is on the legal deposit team at at National Library. I am? Yeah. And this is just really, um, beautiful this event, so yeah. Um, it's amazing. So cool. So, what are we doing about? I think I'll just hand it [00:24:30] and also Roger. Do you want to accept it on behalf of Gans? Yeah. Thank you, Will. And, um thank you all the team that put this together, [00:25:00] it's really amazing. Um, it was a great privilege to have will at me. Um, get get material up for the for the for this workshop. And, um, we had a long list of suggestions, and, um and so I spent a few days hauling stuff up, which was great. And I was thinking, Well, you know, it's interesting. What What's gonna come of it? Because I have not much idea of zines. It's not my territory at all. And, um and so it was. But it's great having people expressing their reactions to collection items. And I know in the Turnbull [00:25:30] Library we have um, people in tears, people dancing out of the room because they've found something that I've been looking for for ages or it's moved them so over through the motion that they can. You know that because the little object they found a bit of text. The letter they've just read from from an ancestor, um, have been really moving. And this is our ancestry. Um, and it's great to have people being moved by it, and it's great that it's it comes alive. And that's the idea of the archive is not a dead thing [00:26:00] that you put in boxes and never see again. It's something that's brought out and used and and makes change and that I will see The archive was founded as an activist, organised as an activist thing and was there to make change in the world. And, um and hopefully this is this is another step along the way. So thank you, will. Thank you, Caitlin. And thank you, everybody for coming tonight and for the group that put this together. Well done. Thank you. [00:26:30] We also just have a little thank you for for Roger and Hannah. Um, which we will deliver. Um The one final thing I want to say is that we as you may have noticed, we've sold out of copies tonight because about five times as many people came as anticipated, which is awesome, which is great. But if you want a copy, one option is to come to Wellington Zine Fest, which is [00:27:00] next weekend on the 10th and 11th of October at, um, uh, the architecture and design campus on Vivian Street. Will and I are going to be there on the Sunday with a stall with, um this scene and also like heaps of other like, cool history scenes and queer scenes. So, yeah, come on down. Um, yeah, it's a cool thing to check out. The other thing is that, like, the only reason we have a price on this is for print costs. If you want a digital copy of it for [00:27:30] you to print out yourself or to, like, just look at digitally. Um, just email Wellington Zine fest at gmail dot com, and we'll just send you the PDF cool. So it's Wellington Zine fest at gmail dot com, or come here, chat to us. Anyway, thank you so much for coming.
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