DECADE

A village overthrown tomorrow, and substituted for others that will not live any longer.

Berlin, Germany 10623

When I first saw the extract I’d been given I was instantly drawn to ‘Greenwich Village’, whenever I think of Greenwich village, I always think to West village, too Little Bohemia. I knew straight away I wanted to make something connected to the idea of queer communities, of safe spaces. The west village is unlike anywhere else in New York, it has been the home to artists for over a hundred years, even the way the streets work are different to the rest of New Yorks grid system.

West village is famous for being a space for political activism, in 1961 Dan Drasin created the first protest film from a protest at Washington Square Park, and then nine years later, the iconic Stonewall riots took place, which would signal the beginning of the Gay rights movement. A moment started by queer and black individuals. Little Bohemia has been the home to some of the most influential painters, poets, writers and musicians, including Jackson Pollack, Edgar Allan Poe, Bob Dylan and Mae West. In this way, I knew I wanted to use text and poetry as part of my research, but I wanted to pay homage to film and documentation as well.

I also wanted to look at the concept of gentrifying queer spaces, Greenwich village has seen a massive hike in rental prices and is no longer attainable for young creatives just starting off. This made me focus on the idea of how marginalised communities are treated.

I have always been fascinated by the HIV and AIDS epidemic and how it took away so many incredible queer and black voices, artists and souls.

I wanted to create something that looks at how society pressurises and demonises marginalised individuals, and how the engrained perceptions of normality create a self- sabotaging, self - blaming and self hate culture for queer and POC identities and how historically, these communities are gentrified, destroyed, but also re-created.

Remember the ones we lost, and the ones that are yet to come. Continue the fight for spaces and places of safety, joy and inclusivity.

tobylikesmilk.com