Archives and amazons: A quilters guide to the lesbian archive

Abstract

This article offers a critical reflection on my creative engagement with the figure of the Amazon in the quilted artworks for my exhibition Archives and Amazons: quilting the lesbian archive which took place at HOME, Manchester in 2021. This exhibition was created in response to archival research at the only accredited museum in the UK dedicated to women, Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL), which holds the remnants of the now disbanded Lesbian Archive and Information Centre (LAIC) (1984–1995). I engage specifically with two representations of Amazons, from two very disparate and politically opposed lesbian publications: firstly the illustrated cover of the LAIC newsletter, and a photographic series by the artist Tessa Boffin (1960–1993). Through auto-ethnography I articulate some of the pleasures and complexities in encountering, and re-visioning the Amazons that ride within the remaining fragments of the LAIC collection. I propose the quilt as a reparative strategy for engaging with the Amazon, one that refuses to disassemble and disassociate from the difficulties of lesbian history, re-assembling the pieces through a contemporary lesbian lens.

Keywords:

• Lesbian
• amazon
• archives
• quilt
• art

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all those who generously helped and inspired me in making the art works discussed in this article, in particular Jane Campbell, Shiobhan Fahey, Sophie Moorcock, all of whom I met through the wonderful Rebel Dykes film (and wider projects), produced by Siobhan Fahey and directed by Sian Williams and Harri Shanahan.

Disclosure statement

The author reports there are no competing interests to declare.

Afternote

You can see the full images and video tour of the Archives and Amazons exhibition, as well as my other work, here on my artist website: https://sarahjoyford.com/projects#/archives-and-amazons-1/.

Notes

1 This research was also delivered as a conference paper titled “Archives and Amazons” at the 2022 Lesbian Lives Conference at Cork University.

2 Amazon Quarterly: A Lesbian Feminist Art Journal was an early American Lesbian Feminist publication that ran between 1972 and 1976.

3 Harpies and Quines is a Scottish feminist magazine. The GWL archive also includes a promotional t-shirt for the magazine showing an Amazon with a spear.

4 The project archives a community of post-punk dykes, brought together by Greenham Common, who protested, partied, squatted, and explored their sexuality, a ‘rabble-rousing’ history that has been left out of the grand narratives of LGBTQ British history (Rebel Dykes History Project, 2020: no pagination). Central to the project is the Rebel Dykes film that documents the lives of dyke communities in London in the 80s and 90s, directed by Harri Shanahan and Sian A. Williams, which after five years in production was launched at the British Film Institute in February 2021.

5 On Our Backs: entertainment for the adventurous lesbian was an American lesbian erotica publication (1984-2006). The editors of QUIM references OOB as inspiration for Quim in their introduction to the first issue.

Additional information

Funding

The author received a doctoral studentship from the NWCDTP (Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK) for her PhD research project ‘Quilting the Lesbian Archive: quiltmaking as an affective methodology for re-visioning the lesbian archive’ undertaken at Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University.

Notes on contributors

Sarah-Joy Ford

Dr Sarah-Joy Ford is an artist and independent scholar working with textiles to explore the complexities and pleasures of queer communities, histories and archives. Her practice sits at intersection of digital and traditional: using strategies of quilting, digital embroidery, digital print, applique and hand embellishment. Her deep material investment in surface pattern design, and embellishment is part of a femme-ethical methodology that prioritises softness, emotionality, and aesthetic preoccupation. She was the recipient of an NWDTCP (Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK) award for her PhD research examining quilting as an affective methodology for re-visioning British lesbian archive, at Manchester School of Art. Recent solos include HARE at Bobinska Brownlee Gallery (London), Looking for Lesbians at ONE Gallery (Los Angeles) and Beloved at Plas Newydd Historic House and Gardens (Llangollen). Her work has recently been commissioned for A Tall Order at Touchstones Rochdale (2023); Un-Defining Queer at The Whitworth Manchester (2022) and Elizabeth Gaskell’s House. Her work is held in numerous collections including The Whitworth, Manchester; The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; Soho House Art Collection, The ONE Archives, Los Angeles; and her archive is held at The Bishopsgate Institute, London. Her forthcoming solo show RABBIT will be at Bury Art Museum in May 2024.