<strong>The long read</strong>: For many Black gay men in 1980s and 90s Britain, nightlife was community, family and lifeline – but its history is in danger of disappearing
When I’ve asked Marc Thompson, my friend and mentor in the black British gay scene, to share memories of his life as a black gay man in 1980s and 1990s South London, his stories often begin with visual prompts. There’s a photograph I adore in which a 22-year-old Marc is warmly embracing his first love, a fellow black gay man named Brad. “I think that picture was taken in roughly 1992, in our flat in The Oval, and we’d been together for a couple years. He was from the US and I was from London,” he tells me, attempting to locate himself within the temporal dimensions of the picture – memory, after all, is reconstructive. “If I remember correctly, we were decorating the flat, hence the walls behind us are stripped. We’d not long moved in and we’re dressed up, so I’m assuming we’re about to head out to a club or a party or something.”
The Inside Story of Black British Queer Pioneer, Ajamu X
CL Mayers has an audience with Ajamu X, the underground artist and archivist, who has an exhibition and book both around the corner
February 08, 2021
Lead ImageAjamu X, Circus Master Series, 1997Courtesy the artist
DICKPRINT editor, CL Mayers, spoke with Ajamu X for the magazine’s inaugural issue back in 2019. Published online for the very first time, with updates on his latest exhibition Ajamu: Archive Sensoria
, he speaks with Ajamu X about founding the Black Perverts Network, kink and fetish within the Black queer community, and his upcoming fine art book Ajamu: Archive.