Gay club photography

Simon Doherty speaks to Rhodes about his photography, which depict an abundance of unmitigated queer joy in an era of political oppression. He tells DJ Mag about the mechanics of this double life. Then I could finally go to bed. During the lockdown, when stabbing yourself in the eye became more preferable to watching another true crime documentary on Netflix, he went into his loft, dusted off his old negatives, pulled out his printed articles, and set about a marathon of scanning.

The body of work depicts an abundance of club queer joy. It also outlawed — much-needed especially in the context of the medical crisis facing that community — councils from funding LGBTQ initiatives. We asked him to take us through some of the imagery. This was at an open-air pride event in Manchester in At the time, [Sir] James Anderton, the police chief in Manchester, was causing a lot of trouble for the gay community.

There gay a lot of protest about him and his policies. They were watching the event and taking down car number plates. The crowd turned as one and went for the officers. I was at the front of the stage taking pictures and somehow I managed to run round the side of the stage, across the road so that I'm now looking at the front of the crowd.

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Then two lesbians threw themselves on the bonnet and started snogging. They were absolutely paralysed. The crowd was cheering and carrying on. Flesh was one of those nights where people went to misbehave; to dress outlandishly and behave to the extreme. It was leather, assless chaps, and all that. That was a little gang of guys and I think some of them, if not all of them, were employed by the club night organisers to entertain the crowd.

That [second to the right] is Louie Spence, he became famous in his own right. It was that sort of club. Bliss, Newcastle, It was a big party night, you can see the people hanging around the back. It was a great night. That came much later. Yes, AIDS was still rampant. How does life carry on?

We need to wear condoms, which is a bit like wearing a mask.