Launch of Queer-in-Progress. Timeline: Online Archive

On Wednesday, 31st March 2021, we’ll be teaming up with GCN Magazine to bring you an exciting launch event.

During the event, we’ll be highlighting some of the features of the timeline as well as introducing our open call, inviting you to write your own history into the timeline. Guests on the night will include writer, actor and activist Noelle Brown; film editor and director Cara Holmes; Sara R Phillips, Founder of the Irish Trans Archive & Chair of the board of TENI – Transgender Equality Network Ireland; GCN’s own Lisa Connell; ACT UP members, Noel Donnellon and Noah Halpin (Noel is a filmmaker and photographer and Noah is the founder of THIS IS ME and is the newly appointed Community Aid Officer with TENI);  filmmaker, director and theatre producer Sonya Mulligan and psychologist, writer and activist Ger Moane who both worked on the documentary Outitude; plus more to be announced. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to read more about our guests in our Biographies section.

The event will be broadcast live on GCN’s Facebook and YouTube from 7.00 pm GMT and will be embedded onto this page so you can watch it here. Throughout the day, we will also be posting some of the highlights across our social media platforms.

The QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE: ONLINE ARCHIVE aims to map and explore expanded Irish LGBTQ histories. Initiated by Lívia Páldi, former Curator of Visual Arts at Project Arts Centre, QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE was first introduced in March 2020 as the second chapter in the ACTIVE ARCHIVE – SLOW INSTITUTION (2017 – 2020); an extensive research initiative aimed at delving into Project Art Centre’s 50+ year history. The initiative began by picking up on research into the history of the LGBT theatre of Project Arts Centre conducted by artist/researcher Hannah Tiernan (MFA, NCAD). For the QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE, she went on to collate material from GCN (Gay Community News) and IQA (Irish Queer Archives), focusing on lesbian, feminist, female-identified, bi, trans and HIV/AIDS histories of the 80s and 90s.

The QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE display launched in Project Art Centre’s gallery on 6th March 2020. Alongside the research, the display hosted one of the Irish Names Quilts and an accompanying video of the Names Project founder Mary Shannon discussing some of the quilts. The display also featured several documentary and artistic videos by Caroline Campbell, Linda Cullen, Cara Holmes and Sonya Mulligan, as well as audio recordings from the Dublin Lesbian Line 40th Anniversary event.

The display was intended to prompt people to bring their own stories and histories to the timeline, creating a dialogue around the need/desire to document and archive our histories. Questioning who authors these narratives and exploring why some become dominant while others are relegated to folklore.

With the QUEER-IN-PROGRESS. TIMELINE: ONLINE ARCHIVE, we seek to continue this conversation. The entries on the timeline are intended to act as prompts, highlighting events, signposting organisations and pinpointing interventions in Irish lesbian, feminist, female-identified, trans, bi, and HIV/AIDS histories. We invite you to explore and challenge these narratives and contribute your own telling.

Queer-In-Progress: Timeline

Twitter – @QueerProgress
Instagram – @QueerinProgress
Facebook – @QueerInProgress

GCN Magazine

Twitter – @GCNmag
Instagram – @gcnmag
Facebook – @gaycommunitynews

BIOGRAPHIES

Noelle Brown

Our first guest for the launch of the Queer-in-Progress. Timeline: Online Archive on the 31st March is actor, writer and adoption rights campaigner, Noelle Brown.

In 1996 she performed the role of Annie Hindle in Emma Donoghue’s play Ladies and Gentlemen. Noelle will be joining us as a guest during the launch event on the 31st of March to talk about her experiences of performing in the play and her current activist work in light of the Mother and Baby Homes Report.

If you’d like to read more about the play or listen to a recording from some of the scenes, it’s available on the Timeline above and on the Timeline’s homepage here.

If you’d like to learn more about Noelle’s work, check out her website here.

Cara Holmes

The next guest joining us for the Queer-in-Progress. Timeline: Online Archive launch will be award-winning documentary filmmaker, Cara Holmes.

We’re delighted to have her 2008 film The Future of Feminism on the Timeline. Cara will be discussing the film and more broadly, looking at the state of feminism in Ireland today. We’ll also be talking about her current project documenting the history of Irish Lesbian Lines.

The Future of Feminism film is available on the Timeline above or on the Timeline’s homepage here.

Follow Cara on Twitter @cara_holmes

Sara R Phillips

We are delighted to have Sara R Phillips joining us for the launch.

Sara is the founder of the Irish Trans Archive, the chair of the board of TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland) and a long-standing trans rights activist. We’ll be chatting to her about the Friends of Eon, TENI and the Irish Trans Archive.

To read more about the Friends of Eon, check out Sara’s write-up on the Timeline above or on the Timeline’s homepage here.

Follow Sara on Twitter @sararphillips

Lisa Connell

Lisa Connell has worked with GCN Magazine since 2008 and was appointed Managing Editor in March 2019. She is a co-producer of Mother, queer club night, and has been a long-time equality activist.

Lisa will be joining us for the launch of the Queer-in-Progress. Timeline: Online Archive to give an insight into the history of GCN and to explain how GCN has served not only as an integral link to our community but also as a record of our community’s history.

She’ll also be discussing some of the challenges that the magazine faces in light of the current pandemic and what we can do to help this invaluable resource survive these turbulent times.

To read more about the history of GCN check out the Timeline above or on the Timeline’s homepage here.

Noel Donnellon and Noah Halpin, ACT UP

The next guests to join us for the launch are ACT UP Dublin members, Noel Donnellon and Noah Halpin. Noel is a film-maker and photographer and Noah is the founder of THIS IS ME and is the newly appointed Community Aid Officer with TENI .

Noel will be giving some insight into the history of ACT UP and its Dublin chapter while Noah will be discussing the urgent need to reopen the GMHS (Gay Men’s Health Service) from the perspective of trans sexual health.

Sonya Mulligan and Ger Moane

We’re delighted to have film-maker, director and theatre producer Sonya Mulligan and psychologist, writer and activist Ger Moane joining us for the launch tomorrow. They’ll be chatting with us about their fabulous documentary film Outitude, which looks at the Irish community. They’ll also be telling us about their exciting online project in the making.

Find more on Outitude via the Timeline above or on the Timeline’s homepage here.