Workshop | Queer Tableaux: Camera as Audience

10:30am, Sat 25 Mar 2023

How do tableaux relate to representations of queer people and queerness?

This event is part of our Past Programme

In this half-day workshop, work with photographer Felix Pilgrim to develop new ways of thinking about the composition of the image through concepts and histories of photography, performance and queer visual culture.

This workshop considers how staged photographs and tableaux vivants ('living pictures') have helped construct and document queer identities throughout history.

Using writing exercises and simple activities, we will work together to create our own posed tableaux, and consider the role the camera plays in documenting play and performance. The photographs created in the workshop will later be available as a digital publication.

Photographers discussed include Bernard Faucon, Nan Goldin, Sunil Gupta, Eikoh Hosoe, Yuki Kihara, Justine Kurland and Yushi Li, as well as works from the exhibition, A Hard Man Is Good To Find!

Who is this for?

This workshop is suitable for photographers, performers, artists, and all members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community who want to enhance their understanding of photography, performance and queer visual culture. Participants are welcome to bring along their own cameras.

Schedule

10.30 Introductions
10.45 Writing session responding to selected tableaux
11.00 Practical exercises creating still images and narratives
12.15 Break
12.30 Writing and creation of our own tableaux
13.30 Viewing our work
14:00 End

Biography

Felix Pilgrim is a photographer based in London. His work explores portraiture, performance and the queer experience. In 2022 Felix was selected as a winner of British Vogue's 'Future Visionaries' competition for his series Hosts, which documents Londoners connected via Grindr and their reflections on intimacy. Hosts was shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize and displayed by the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre at Tate Modern.

Felix has previously worked as a theatre-maker and is interested in how photography facilitates performance, storytelling and spectatorship. He is currently studying for an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication, UAL.

Bursaries

A number of partial bursaries covering 50 per cent of course fees will be awarded on a first come basis. Applicants who wish to be considered for a partial bursary should submit a statement (max. 500 words) to projects@tpg.org.uk, outlining how Queer Tableaux: Camera as Audience would contribute to their professional development. Successful applicants will be notified within a week of submission.

We actively encourage applications from groups who are currently underrepresented in the cultural sector in the UK. This includes people who identify as D/deaf, disabled* and neurodivergent; those with caring responsibilities; candidates from Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds; and arts and culture professionals whose career development has been negatively impacted by Covid-19, prioritising independent artists, freelancers and those made redundant/at risk of redundancy since 2020.

*The Equality Act 2010 defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Sharing that you are disabled will not be used in any way in judging the quality of your application.

Details on how to access this event will be confirmed upon registration. Please check your junk folders if you haven't received an email from TPG staff confirming your place.