Picture this: archival newspapers, photographs and clippings plaster the ceiling in a bold, immersive installation that exudes nightclub nostalgia. Flickering film footage captures an oral history through a series of intimate interviews. Flyers for raves and HIV prevention materials bathe a mirrored dancefloor. You’ve stepped inside a radical portrait of Black LGBTQ+ British culture from the 1970s onwards that’s loudly infiltrating Somerset House this October. Making a Rukus! Black Queer Histories Through Love and Resistance is the expansive exhibition arriving to cause, you guessed it, a ruckus.
Curated by artist and filmmaker Topher Campbell, co-founder of The Rukus! Federation – a playful and disruptive art project and living archive erected alongside photographer and pal Ajamu X in 2000 – Making a Rukus! Black Queer Histories Through Love and Resistance showcases over 200 objects including archival materials, contemporary artworks and brand-new commissions. Transcending a static documentation of Black queer culture, the display looks at the ongoing political and artistic interventions that have observed the resistance of creative pursuits amongst Black LGBTQ+ people in Britain.
Upon entry, visitors will behold a projection of Campbell’s most celebrated film project. Dubbed The Homecoming: A Short Film About Ajamu, it contrasts a tough urban image of Brixton with the growing gay scene in the 1980s and ’90s, providing an essential foundation for viewers to understand how art, activism and friendship gave birth to The Rukus!.
Split into four rooms – with the first two tinged in soft, rose lighting – the spectacle then transitions to address visitors with the emotional work and indelible legacies of those who have resisted the twin hostilities of homophobia and racism throughout the ages. Notable names include poet Dorothea Smart, playwright Mojisola Adebayo, activist Ted Walker Brown, writer Dirg Aab Richards, therapist Dennis Carney, publisher Paul Boakye, academic Valerie Mason John and photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode.
Visitors are then thrust back into a rousing era of hip beats and blue lighting. Evan Ifekoya, an artist, performer and former Somerset House Studios associate, creates a raw commotion through an interactive soundscape titled A Score, A Groove, A Phantom, A Rukus!, which washes throughout the space. Ifekoya’s installation immerses visitors in Black LGBTQIA+ club culture, featuring audio from community members across generations who discuss their formative club experiences. Also on view are an amalgamation of archival materials pulled from iconic clubs like London’s Bootylicious, as well as Pressure Zone, OffDaHook, Stallions and Black Perverts Network, illustrating the rhythms, trends and languages that defined the scene.
Before leaving, visitors will encounter rare footage from The Rukus! archive, including an extended documentation of the first and only national gathering of Black gay men in the UK in 1987 – exclusive content you won’t want to miss!
Making a Rukus! Black Queer Histories through Love and Resistance runs from October 11 until January 19 at Somerset House. Book your tickets here.
Photography courtesy of Somerset House.
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