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Meet the New Queers on the Block artists for 2022

Thu 3 Mar 2022

We’re delighted to announced that Tammy Reynolds, Whiskey Chow, Rowdy SS and Estabrak are the four artists commissioned by Marlborough Productions for its flagship artist and community development programme, New Queers on the Block in 2022.

Funded by Arts Council England, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, New Queers on the Block is a national programme that connects a network of arts partners around England – – in Bradford, Blackpool, Hastings, Folkestone and Brighton – to support the development of innovative  LGBTQIA+ artists and audiences. Now the programme has commissioned four artists to embark on a six month creative development period across the national network.

Three of the artists were selected through an open call which received over 220 applications. The three awards went to multidisciplinary London artist Rowdy SS; acerbically political performer, Tammy Reynolds; and London-based artist and Chinese drag king, Whiskey Chow. A fourth commission was awarded in partnership with the arts commissioning programme for disabled artists Unlimited, who selected the award-winning cross-disciplinary artist and filmmaker Estabrak. You can read more about each of the four selected artists below.

Each will embed themselves in one of our partner locations over the next six months, using the time to focus on their artistic development and engage with local LGBTQIA+ communities. Their residencies will be documented on a new project website: https://newsqueersontheblock.com

The artists will also benefit from residency space, mentoring, access support, and professional guidance in producing, marketing and community engagement from Marlborough Productions and its national partners: Art B&B and LeftCoast in Blackpool; Bradford Producing Hub and Theatre in the Mill in Bradford; Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts in Brighton; Creative Folkestone in Folkestone; Home Live Art in Hastings; Cambridge Junction in Cambridge; and Unlimited.

 

Photograph: A large orange cube in front of a black background with a figure standing, leaning on the left side of the cube. The cube is a bit taller than the person. They are a Black person dressed in orange, leaning their shoulder on the cube with their body facing us, tilting backwards. Their hand is touching the cube. On top of the photograph is the text 'Rowdy SS' in purple lettering.


Rowdy SS works at the intersections of sound, music, dance, movement and live art performance alongside making video. International performances and works have explored love, energy, emotions, feelings, explored identity and the societal constructs surrounding them. Rowdy will use his residencies to explore each of his practices and continue to develop his ongoing dance/sound/visual performance work BALANCE.

 

Photograph: A head and shoulder close up of an East Asian person with their face looking slightly to the right, in front of a red background. Their black hair is shaved on the right side and falls to their cheek on the other. They are looking straight at us. They are wearing a smart white shirt and jacket. On top of the photograph is the text 'Whiskey Chow' in green lettering.

 

Whiskey Chow’s interdisciplinary work combines embodied performance with moving image and experimental sound. Her practice engages with broadly defined political issues, from queer masculinity, problematising the nation-state across geographic boundaries, to Chinese/Asian identity. Whiskey’s residencies will explore queer fight through the philosophy of martial arts legend Bruce Lee: using no way as way, having no limitation as limitation.

 

Photograph: A head and shoulders close up of a very pale skinned person with white blond curly hair. They hold a microphone to their mouth with their hand on the right. They are wearing white face paint, pink tinted glasses, a pearl necklace and yellow top with a pink feather boa around their shoulders. On top of the photograph is the text 'Tammy Reynolds' in purple lettering.

 

Tammy Reynolds performs as themselves as well as their drag alter-ego Midgitte Bardot. Their work invokes a revolutionary zeal in the most inhibited of people, bringing new horizons of power, disgust, and the brute force of confronting our shared humanity on a dying planet. Whilst in residency, Tammy will explore circus and ‘freak show’ heritage whilst developing their own artistic practice.

 

Artwork: A red and white watercolour of a face with heavy eyebrows, a small neat moustache and long loose flowing hair. The eyes are very pale, as if possibly not there. On top of the artwork is the text 'Estabrak' in white lettering.

 

Estabrak’s work is multi-sensory in approach. She uses live techniques, film, projection, sound, performance, paint, installation, (underwater) photography, sculpture, words and public participation to help highlight and dismantle ignored sociopolitical realities. Estabrak’s residency time will be spent creating backgammon sets to instigate conversation with West Asian and North African diaspora in the UK.

 

 

 

 

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