Essential Information
| Type | Events and festivals |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Date and Times | Thursday 7 September | 6pm-9pm |
| Prices | Free | 18+ |
Join us for an evening of life drawing, live music, zine making and conversation centred around icons of maritime history.
Led by researchers K.A. Harper, Jas Bevan Niss and Rose Power, this event showcases their initial findings from the LGBTQ+ community-led project at Royal Museums Greenwich.
Listen to a discussion led by queer historian and Nelson fangirl Jas Bevan Niss on Horatio Nelson’s relationship to the Hamiltons, enjoy musical accompaniment from dark folk duo Buckner Building, and take part in a zine making workshop exploring cross-dressing at sea.
This event is part of Thames Pride Arts Festival.
Please be aware this event is suitable for those aged 18+.
Event programme
Image
Zine making
Create a DIY booklet to take home as a visual reminder of what you learn about transgressing gender at sea. Find out when, why and how women and AFAB (assigned female at birth) people lived as male sailors; learn how to fold and create flip-books which allow you to bend genders of each section of the body; collage fanzines which capture the rebellious attitude of gender-nonconforming sailors who crossed the waves and societal boundaries. Materials, including images and words from the RMG archives, will be provided.
Talks
Listen to discussions by queer historian and Nelson fangirl Jas Bevan Niss and K. A. Harper.
Life drawing
Life model and performer K.A. Harper explores the queer undercurrents in the Nelson/Hamilton ménage à trois. She will pay homage to Emma Hamilton’s acclaimed ‘attitudes’ and reclaim the gaze, giving agency to the muse and the moment.
Event timings
| 6pm-7pm | Arrival, refreshments, zine making, explore the Queen's House |
| 7pm-7.30pm | Live discussion with K.A. Harper and Jas Bevan Niss |
| 7.30pm-9pm | Life drawing, zine making and live music |
Event hosts
K.A. Harper (she/they) is a multi-disciplinary artist living in London. Creating work spanning music, writing and performance practices, they look at the interplay between history, relationality and embodied queer experience. For the LGBTQ+ Research Project at RMG they’ve focused on the life of Emma Hamilton, with tonight’s event marking the first public sharing of work.
Jas Bevan Niss (they/she) is a budding queer maritime historian living in London. Their involvement with the LGBTQ+ Research Project led them down a path of intrigue surrounding the life of Horatio Nelson and the men who loved him. She has an ongoing interest in polar exploration and hidden queer narratives surrounding life at sea.
Rose Power (she/her) is a creative educator with a background in illustration and interest in queer history. She has recently been channelling this into a community-led research project at the Royal Museums Greenwich. Rose’s project ‘Marytime’ focuses on women crossing the seas dressed as male sailors in times when female presence on ships was considered a curse.
Banner image: Mal Parry