Photobook about LGBTIQA+ people in Canberra
As I alluded to in a previous review, I went a little crazy bidding on things in the #AuthorsforFireys Twitter auctions to raise money following the Australian bushfire crisis earlier this year. I think if I had won everything I had bid on, I would have bankrupted myself. However, I have absolutely no regrets about the things that I was lucky enough to win, and this is one of them. Unlike most of the auctions, the offer for this one was that anyone who donated $100 to a bushfire charity would receive a copy of the book. Not contest, just straight up books for donations. Even better, because it’s Canberra, I got to meet with the producer/editor for lunch on a relatively smoke-free day. This book is a sensory delight. The cover is done in textile, the debossing feels amazing, and before you even open it, you can tell it is an extremely professional work.
Luckily I still have one of my placards with one of the many We Are CBR stickers that I handed out like candy. I actually donated a lot of the memorabilia I had collected, especially stickers, to the National Library of Australia so I’m glad I still had some lying around for this review.
“Queerberra”, produced and edited by Victoria Firth-Smith with photography by Jane Duong, is a photobook showcasing some of the wonderfully diverse LGBTIQA+ people who live in Canberra.
This is a beautifully curated collection of photographs of 100 humans being authentically themselves around the city of Canberra. The photography is incredible, and the book is sandwiched between a foreword by the ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and introduction by Firth-Smith, and a series of annotated thumbnails or proof sheets at the end with a bit of information about each model. It is an incredibly joyful book to flip through with many familiar faces from the Canberra business, politics, journalism and arts community. Each individual and scene is unique, but there is a real connectedness in this book. A strong sense of unity in diversity.
The timing of this book couldn’t have been better. In a time where we seem to be living through historical event after historical event, it’s incredible to think that this book was published during the 2017 marriage equality plebiscite. While the harm caused to the LGBTIQA+ community by putting their rights to a public vote cannot be minimised, the day that the announcement was made in Canberra was itself an incredible historic event. I ran from the office for an extremely early lunch break to go meet my friends and celebrate, and the street party in Braddon that evening was euphoric.
Initiatives like this were critical to ensuring that this wasn’t a checkbox, academic activity. This was something that affected the rights of real people. The people who live in our city, who we work with, who we sit next to on the bus, who makes our coffee, who represents us in parliament, who helps us when we need help. Our friends. Our families. Ourselves.
So, honestly, to receive a copy of a book like this at such a difficult time for Canberra was a breath of fresh air. If you want something to remind you that the last few years haven’t just been fires and plagues, I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a piece of history.
Tinted Edges 