My Pop Life is a series of posters that share my experience of becoming a teenager in Tasmania at the end of the 1980s, using remix methods to create digital collages that include personal artefacts, archival material and memories of another time. Each artwork harnesses the purpose and power of the poster as a medium for information sharing, message making and cultural celebration.
Using personal and public materials as references, these posters present a bigger picture of a young life lived during the 'celebration of a nation' that was the bicentennial of Australia, the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and the fight for gay law reform in Tasmania that saw the arrests of 130 protesters at Salamanca Market between October and December 1988. These last two events sparked a widespread and heated public debate in Tasmania, where consensual sex between men would remain illegal until 1997.
At the same time - in the alternative world of pop - queer artists, designers and performers dominated youth-centric popular culture behind the scenes, on screen and on the pages of pop magazines. For me, pop posters and the many queer icons that graced them became symbols of a medium and culture that not only accepted but openly celebrated diversity – in stark contrast to the news cycle. But not only was pop culture an escapist joy, it was also used by artists and performers as a platform to speak about important issues. As a creative and highly curious kid on the path to becoming an adult, I absorbed all of these contradictory and confusing media messages while coming to terms with a difficult childhood and personal trauma to somehow find a sense of self that was not defined by shame and fear.
Each poster tells a version of the truth of my experience, drawing on history, memory and fantasy to present a curated personal account of my experience of being gay at a time when it was illegal and stigmatised in Tasmania. While this narrative is specific to my lived experience, many of the details reveal a bigger story about the queer experience in Tasmania and beyond. As a member of a marginalised group, asserting agency as narrator allows me to reclaim my story via this project and shed some light on truths that often exist in the shadows of history.
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