Re-booting Our Archive: Our Tales of Lesbian Brighton & Hove

Words by Kate Wildblood, Community Champion for Queer Heritage South‘s Live Archive project Re-booting Our Archive: Our Tales of Lesbian Brighton & Hove.

What we did mattered. It always has. Lives lived, changes created, connections made. And if you were like me back in the late ’80s / early ’90s – it mattered that it was all done in a pair of purple Doc Martens. As a non-binary lesbian with a history that needs telling and passion for the photography and the ephemera of that life be they flyers, photos, stickers, badges, merch or tees – I’m thrilled to announce the next accounted-for chapter in my life.

Time to become a Community Champion for Queer Heritage South‘s Live Archive project Re-booting Our Archive: Our Tales of Lesbian Brighton & Hove. Time to help connect lesbians of a certain age (the best age!) and share the means to tell their stories. Enabling, creating, and celebrating. All community-like.

This exciting new project invites us to tell the lesbian tales we’ve lived and loved in Brighton & Hove. Sharing the moments that made us, through the ephemera, objects, photos, stories and soundtracks of our past lives – allowing precious items and past memories to combine as we share our unique histories to create a new chapter of theQueer in Brighton / Queer Heritage South: Live Archive.

On the dancefloor, on the streets, the communities we built, the lovers we found, the families we made, the friendships we treasure. Connecting, flirting, protesting, dancing, working, creating, being us. Ensuring lesbian visibility is never in doubt, Queer Heritage South: Live Archive will create a space for exploration, recognition and celebration. Creating a community proudly connected to our past as we share the tales we always treasured but never found the space to tell. An opportunity to reunite, claim the narrative and direct the story ourselves, deciding how and what we wish to share.