After a long day of hanging up various objects; running around town; writing up descriptions; battling with a printer and debating whether to spend £8 on a single pack of sticky notes or whether to pay twice that for the ‘extra sticky’ variety (normal ones would have to do); our exhibition was up. With 3 minutes to spare before the opening my partner and I quickly popped home to freshen up before rushing back for a complimentary glass of bubbly. I wasn’t worried too much about missing out on a glass of fizz mind you. Although I was incredibly proud of what we had achieved, the quick turn around this exhibition demanded meant that I privately had modest expectations about how many people would show up. I was chuffed then to see when we arrived back, that not only were there lots of complimentary drinks left, there were also lots of people. It was amazing to see so many come along to an exhibition about local LGBTQ+ history; and after an amazing couple of weeks researching and planning this exhibition I hope they found as well as I, that it’s well worth a look.

Visions in Vogue and Vinyl is an exhibition by Queer by Gum, commissioned by The Dukes as a part of their ‘RIP IT UP’ season, in collaboration with the BFI. ‘RIP IT UP’ is all about celebrating youth, rebellion and culture and what better way to celebrate those things than through a queer lens. Rebellion has always been intrinsically linked to queerness and queer identity. To be queer is to go against what society deems as ‘normal’ and because of it we have had to fight hard for the rights we have. Hatred and bigotry have long been our enemy and even today LGBTQ+ people around the world, particularly the trans community have to fight for survival and for a right to exist. Rebellion is part of our culture, our history and living your life as a queer individual is still to this day a political act. In very few places do rebellion and culture go so hand in hand and it’s important to recognise that. With this exhibition we wanted to celebrate this by looking back at local queer history, to explore the ways that over the years people have worked hard to foster LGBTQ+ culture and community here in Lancaster. From night life and social events, to DIY publications and volunteer organisations. There has been so much rich beautiful history that we hope to shine a light on and hopefully inspire people to share their own stories.

The initial concept for this exhibition was to create a timeline that people can contribute to with their own significant moments in history, with a memory, photograph, object, etc. After doing research however we discovered that a lot of major events seemed to surround the same few locations. A handful of sites around Lancaster where queer culture seemed to flourish. We decided instead to depict these sites with beautiful illustrations (by @vaz_artist) and encourage people to add to its queer history with memories of their own. Using places as it happens was a great way to trigger these memories in people, often when we mentioned a specific place to someone they had a story to accompany it. Locations and the stories they hold are a great source of collective history. We wanted the exhibition to be a living, growing archive of this. A people’s history of the local queer scene. We set up the locations around the room, added some key moments and items we’d found in our research and let the people come and add the rest. It was great to see people on the night using the tools we provided (Pens, paper, a scanner, a dictaphone etc.) to add to the exhibition. We hope that over the course of the month while the exhibition is on, people continue to add their little pieces of local queer history, and also add their name to our growing list of contributors!

Although being an interactive exhibition was a huge part of what we wanted to do. We also wanted to make sure there was a good base of content for people to experience regardless, which required a fair amount of research and gathering of materials. A huge thank you to Global Link who had previously done a big research project previously called ‘Documenting Dissent’ which included a large amount of research about Lancaster’s LGBTQ+ history. They were kind enough to allow us to use their existing research to inform some of our exhibition. This led us to meet a couple of local legends in Alistair Gault and Peter Wade, who were volunteers at the Lancaster Gay Switchboard, the first LGBTQ+ helpline in the Northwest. Peter Wade was also the custodian of the switchboard archive and so an invaluable contributor, not least because he also brought along a collection of vinyl records they used to play at fundraising discos in the 80’s. We were able to play them on the night of our opening, transporting us back in time to dance to some funky classics, The Weather Girls, Bronski Beat and Divine were all in the line up. It was amazing being able to celebrate being queer with someone from that generation, listening to the same tunes they would have done back then. The switchboard is such an important part of local history; it was incredibly moving to be able to speak to people who volunteered there when it first launched, hear their stories and share them in this exhibition.

Another amazing contribution was a collection of ‘Gutter Girl’ magazines, a DIY feminist publication produced by a group of women in Lancaster in the 90’s. These were donated by Krys Abbott-Garner and are one of the best things we’re exhibiting. All thirteen issues are available for you to go and browse now in the exhibition zine library. At Queer by Gum we’re no stranger to a DIY publication, its radical forms of communication like these that have helped give social political movements a voice. People who are disenfranchised or not represented by the mainstream media can promote themselves, build community and gather strength to fight the systems that oppress them. Gutter Girl is no different. It used creative expression, wit and humour to empower women by satirising the problematic mainstream ‘womens’ magazines. Protesting misogyny and harmful stereotypes, all while creating space for women to connect with each other and build community. Projects like this are near and dear to Queer by Gum’s heart, we try to operate in similar ways, using creativity to build community. It has been a privilege to get to experience a publication like Gutter Girl as an example of how a little home made zine can impact the world and lives of those around you. These are rare artifacts indeed so don’t miss your chance to go and look through them.

Although Gutter Girl and the Switchboard are some highlights of the exhibition there is plenty more to see, including some art work from local queer artists, celebrating queer night life. A huge thank you to everyone who has produced something for this exhibition and to everyone who has contributed their time and voice to help make it happen. Remember you can still go and add your contributions. Record something there or bring a copy of a photograph, anything at all. Visions in Vogue and Vinyl will be up and available to visit in The Dukes Gallery, until August 30th. Help us tell the story of this vibrant and beautiful history us queer Lancastrians have.

An example of this was making ‘collective made reels’ which were a fun way of documenting events because it used footage taken by lots of different people. Everyone was asked to try and take some videos to be used later in a reel and in doing so you got lots of different perspectives. You got to see what different people noticed, what stood out to them and the results ended up being more varied than if just one person had been filming, leading to a collective sense of ownership over the result. The footage was often a little less polished but the overall feel felt more authentic and better represented the collective as a whole. With low pressure, and authenticity in mind, capturing moments and feelings in a raw unpolished way.

This year I was also commissioned by Queer by Gum to run a workshop where we explored DIY self publishing as a queer, radical and sustainable practice. Looking at DIY publishing as an alternative form of communication that focuses on positivity and community, this workshop aimed to help participants to better present, communicate and distribute information in small but impactful ways. We made one page publication designs using written words and collage, which I then collated into a small riso printed publication. This workshop was part of the wider ‘Radical Queer Craft’ project using craft and sharing skills in radical and sustainable ways.

Jackkapre Studio

Radical Queer Press

In 2025 I really dove into my interest in independent publishing and publication design. I even managed to get freelance work producing and printing a quarterly publication in collaboration with the Morecambe Community Riso Press (a topic for another post). From that I began to think about design’s role in society, how graphic design is often used as a …

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7 months ago · 2 likes · Jackkapre Studio

I later took this workshop to Good Things Collective where we used the same principles of self publishing and created pages that reflected on and communicated ideas about the collective. It was really interesting using this method as a way of documenting collective members’ different experiences, gaining feedback and insight into what people thought about the collective. We called it ‘Press Club’ with the idea that we would continue using the practice regularly as a club as a form of regular documentation to be shared, like the press. The nature of this workshop let people flex their creativity and have fun with it, leading to some interesting and unorthodox responses creating recipes or poems for example. The outcome of this style of documentation was far more authentic and reflective of the individual than if similar information had been given by means of a survey or questionnaire. I think this helps people feel more heard as opposed to being a statistic in quantitative data.

Alongside the workshop I also created a ‘brief’ with the task and purpose outlines so that people could complete it remotely and in their own time which was helpful in getting as many responses as possible in a collective where people had different commitments and availability. It was great to see the workshop I had developed to be a skill sharing workshop on publication design and DIY self publishing be used as a way to document people’s experiences.

I’m keen to continue developing different methods of creative documentation in the future and explore the idea of creative documentation as an art practice. Artists often use field research in their practice and sometimes it becomes the practice itself. I’m interested in exploring this idea in a community setting, using design to record and share experiences/stories.

It’s worth mentioning who GTC are if you’re unfamiliar. Good Things Collective are a collective of artists and social entrepreneurs; for anyone with a creative, sustainable or socially focused practice. I am one of around 35 members and together we put on events for the local community, run workshops, collaborate on projects and plenty more. I am also fortunate enough to be able to work for the collective one day a week. I help with communications and promotion mostly, making posters for events, creating visual identities for things in our regular programming, creating social media content etc. I had started off doing this freelance in late 2024 and had been doing so for a couple of months when I was approached about the zine project last year. I was new to the collective and was very grateful that they took a chance on me when they asked me to co-produce it. It was my first project of this type that had funding behind it and was in no doubt a turning point in my career which has helped me get to where I am today and informed a lot about what I do in my practice.

For the zine production I was going to be working with Charlotte Done who runs the Morecambe Riso Press. Working with Charlotte was an absolute delight. We had lots of brainstorming sessions, divided up the work in a way that played to both of our strengths as designers and it was my first introduction to using the riso printer. Gaining access to this new skill and tool alongside this project helped me develop my ideas about using print as a tool for community engagement (you can read more about that here). An idea that pushed my work in the direction it is going towards now. I have since gone on to use the riso for many other projects, have written blog posts for the Morecambe Riso Press to help newcomers learn how to use it; and even run riso workshops at Aunty Social in Blackpool. Work involving the riso now makes up a large percentage of the freelance work I do and this would never have happened if I had not been introduced to Riso for ‘An Inside Look’. Not to mention I now have an amazing working relationship and friendship with Charlotte and we continue to work on projects together which is always exciting.

Overall An Inside Look was not only a turning point for me but also the genesis of new ideas and ways of working that make up my practice today.

A very special thank you to Good Things Collective and The Morecambe Riso Press. <3

Radical self publishing is not a new idea; it has been a crucial part of many social political movements throughout history. Last year when I visited the ‘Women in Revolt!’ exhibition at The Whitworth in Manchester, my favourite exhibits were the self published materials designed, printed and circulated by the women at Greenham Common. This collection of flyers, posters and zines was a perfect example of how people used design to actively help and support their community. It gave those at the time without a voice, who were not represented by mainstream media outlets a way to communicate in a powerful and impactful way. Similar methods have been seen all over, including in the LGBTQA+ activist group ‘The Gay Liberation Front’ with the publication of their independent newspaper ‘Come Out!’ which began publication shortly after the Stonewall riots. It was these modes of communication that I was interested in. Communication that was small but ultimately had a huge impact on the community it was for.

Queer people have never felt trust in the media, headlines have historically been skewed against us and used to spread mis-information; it’s particularly bad at the moment for the trans community. It’s a well known far right tactic to pit marginalised groups against each other by fear mongering to distract from the injustices committed by the ruling class, and the queer community is one of many groups who are a victim of this. It’s fair to say that in mainstream media, we are at the very best under-represented and at worst villanised and othered. With the introduction of social media everyone had the opportunity to publish their own thoughts without the need to first be screened and granted publication or airtime by a major newspaper or tv channel. Anyone could write a blog post, and later post a facebook post, write a tweet, share on their story, make a tiktok etc. but with such a vast amount of content from across the globe at your fingertips it can be overwhelming and easy to get lost in the noise. Not to mention that most major social media platforms are now owned by fascist tech-bros, leading to biased algorithms, unethical usage of AI and a plethora of other issues with using social media these days. Instead we should encourage a cultural shift away from these potentially harmful platforms and a move towards smaller but ultimately more impactful ways of communicating with others.

As a Queer person it’s important to get involved in your local communities, take up space and make yourself visible, it can be scary and sometimes unsafe to do this which is why finding a local queer community is important, but it is ultimately exposure to other ways of life that disarms people, undoes harmful stereotypes and challenges the misinformation peddled by the media. Getting involved in your communities (queer community, local community etc.) is where you are going to have the most impact in changing the world and peoples opinions for the better. DIY publishing is a great way to communicate and get involved with your communities that avoids social media but is still easy to do. A way for disenfranchised folk to circumvent mainstream media and share their voice.

It was my good friend Vaz who founded Queer by Gum who had the idea for me to run a workshop for them under their Radical Queer Craft project Exploring these ideas as a ‘sustainable’ craft. I developed the workshop as a ‘physical media - collage workshop’ where we would incorporate written word and images to communicate our ideas in a one page publication design, considering layout and replicability. I found old magazines and some dotted grid paper and asked people to make a page communicating something they were interested in, so that it could be scanned and riso printed as a mono-coloured publication.

There were seven of us including myself who came together on a Saturday afternoon. Together with some gentle music and pleasant conversation, we created a very chill atmosphere to sit and get creative in. We each made a page design communicating an idea or theme, using collage and considered layout design using the grid paper. Everyone’s outcome was unique and impressive, not everyone in the room identified as an artist or designer but every piece of work was beautiful in its physicality. These DIY layouts that would ordinarily be made in programmes such as indesign were given a more intimate and personal feel being hand made, which served to emphasise the ideas they were communicating. There was an element of passion that designing analogue gave the layouts that can often be lost when produced digitally. It was also interesting to see the resourcefulness of people when they have images that don’t necessarily go with their theme/idea but instead how they choose to present the image to creatively communicate and illustrate what they needed, using context and placement to supplement what they wanted to say. Overall I was super proud of the participants of this workshop and I hope I conveyed the idea that this style of communication is an accessible, easy and relatively fun way of sharing your thoughts. The applications are endless, personal manifestos, events promotion, skill sharing, etc. all these things can be put into a DIY design and shared wherever you want.

I took the designs and turned them into a Riso printed zine with a brief description of the workshop on the cover. This is to be displayed and distributed at the Radical Queer Craft exhibition, which is the culmination of work from this and other workshops that are part of the Radical Queer Craft project.

Special thanks to Queer by Gum and the Radical Queer Craft project and to Food Futures: Pots of Possibilty Fund for funding this workshop.