ASHLEY JOINER
Ashley Joiner is a filmmaker and founder and director of Queercircle, a community-focused creative organisation rooted in facilitation and direct action. Joiner’s debut feature-length documentary Are You Proud? was named “one of the most important LGBTQ+ films of the year” by the Independent, listed in the Guardian’s “Top Ten Documentaries of 2019” and has since been developed into learning resources and made available to schools across the UK. Since opening in North Greenwich in June, Queercircle has hosted shows by Michaela Yearwood-Dan and bones tan jones, as well as delivering a pioneering public programme with a particular focus on queer creative health.
Interview by Thomas Roueché
Portrait Stephen Chung / Alamy News, courtesy Ashley Joiner
Thomas Roueché How did you come to found Queercircle?
Ashley Joiner Queercircle started six years ago as a community response to the closure of over 60% of LGBTQ+ spaces in London over the last decade. Many, if not all, of the spaces that survived were commercially focused and centred around nightlife. Those spaces are vital for our community, but are also exclusionary for many of us – the underage, those perceived “too old” due to ageism, those of us dealing with alcohol or drug misuse – so we wanted to provide an alternative way to come together as a community that complemented what already existed. We threw a very DIY four-day mini-festival including an exhibition, local-history tours, screenings and workshops, and it seemed to really resonate with people. I think that’s because it was for us, by us; an ethos we have maintained as we have developed Queercircle over the last six years. I spent a couple of years running a series of “think-ins” with artists, curators, community organisers, writers and thinkers, much like the Gay Liberation Front in the early 1970s and the Women’s Liberation before them did. They were an opportunity for people who often didn’t know each other to share their experiences as Queer people to help us understand what Queercircle could and should be. Out of those discussions came the need for a permanent space, so that became the main priority. Since securing our new home in the Design District, we’ve been able to develop a programme befitting the needs and aspirations of our community. Opening the space provides us an opportunity to continue learning and develop in response to those changing needs.
TR Tell us a little bit about your work as a director prior to Queercircle?
AJ Too often LGBTQ+ history is viewed through an American lens so I wanted to chart the history of the LGBTQ+ movement here in the UK and highlight the interconnectedness of issues we still face today. The resulting documentary, Are You Proud? is a cacophony of LGBTQ+ activists from the last 70 years and shines a light on the challenges we face, including those within our own communities – issues of transphobia, racism and misogyny, for example. Are You Proud? went on to have global distribution and was later turned into learning resources for Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 students across the UK. While making Are You Proud? I had the great honour of interviewing Andrew Lumsden, who was a part of the Gay Liberation Front, the first group to publicly campaign for LGBTQ+ rights in the UK. That was something that catalysed the progress we benefit from today. He said, “We didn’t know what we were doing at the time – we just had to try stuff out.” So, with that same energy I started Queercircle, which, in some ways, is very much a physical version of Are You Proud? It’s a space to bring together different voices, learn from each other, and feel a sense of belonging.
TR What are the challenges that a space like Queercircle faces.
AJ Beyond the issues that everyone is facing in this current political and economic climate, there are two main challenges we face: what does it mean to “institutionalise” Queerness? And how do we maintain a community-generated programme when LGBTQ+ communities are so diverse. I’ve never called Queercircle an institution, but it’s something that’s been projected on to us since opening, so we have to be conscious of that. Queerness by its very nature cannot be contained or explicitly defined – it shapeshifts and evolves, which is why we’ve ensured Queercircle and our programmes are porous. Rather than a top-down approach, our programmes are delivered through an ecology of partnerships and developed through commissions, co-productions, and through space provision for LGBTQ+ people, groups and organisations to deliver their own initiatives. By adopting a Queer, community-generated approach we hope to redefine the concept of “institutions” and ensure we reflect the diversity of our communities.
TR You’ve spoken about the importance of being joyful at the same time as clearly understanding the struggles that LGBTQ+ people still face. Can you tell me a little more about that?
AJ Absolutely, to be joyful in this current climate is a radical act. To live a joyful existence is resistance. We are acutely aware of the challenges ahead, but by opening Queercircle with Let Me Hold You by Michaela Yearwood-Dan, we created a space of joy and love that informs every-thing we do moving forward.
TR How do you think a space like Queercircle can encourage systemic change?
AJ Since opening we have begun to understand our unique position to create long-term systemic change. Representation within the arts and culture sector is one key aspect of what we do. As is providing space for LGBTQ+ people to come together, be nurtured and supported creatively, personally and professionally. Beyond that we are working with an ecology of non-LGBTQ+ partners and using our leverage to create changes, for instance, we have managed to change Greenwich Borough Council’s Adult Learning enrolment forms to include genders beyond male and female, a change we hope will now be implemented across the UK. The most recent Creative Health Report doesn’t mention LGBTQ+ once, so we have found ourselves at the forefront of research into Queer creative health; an area we believe we can create significant change for LGBTQ+ people across the UK. These are just some examples. Given that we only opened in June 2022, they’re a good indication of the impact we’ve been able to have.
TR Can you tell us a bit about Queercircle’s relationship to its neighbourhood?
AJ Our programme primarily focuses on supporting LGBTQ+ people, but this support is extended to local communities in Greenwich, Newham and Tower Hamlets. For instance, the exhibition Tunnel Visions by bones tan jones comments on the construction of the Silvertown Tunnel, a new car tunnel underneath our home into neighbouring Newham, which will increase pollution in the borough of Newham and disproportionately affect marginalised and working-class communities. This is important because at present poor air quality in the borough kills 96 residents every year; airborne particulate matter in Newham is 35% above the World Health Organization safety standards; and one in seven of the population is exposed to levels of nitrogen dioxide above the UK limit value for human health. So we are collaborating with Stop the Silvertown Tunnel Coalition to elevate their campaign and ensure local people are aware of the impact and feel empowered to demand change. We’re also working with local schools to imagine creative alternative uses for the tunnel. Beyond that, I think it’s important to say, the conversations we’re having at Queercircle are universal and are of relevance to everyone, it’s just that they’re from a Queer perspective.
TR You’ve just closed a show with the Queer Youth Art Collective. Can you tell us a little about that? How do such youth outreach projects fit into the wider context of the space’s planning?
AJ Queercircle has three seasons a year, each has an exhibition commission and an archive exhibition. For a month in between each season we hand over the galleries to other LGBTQ+ organisations. These “Catalyst” periods are an opportunity for us to pay forward the support we have received in the past to other organisations, in the hope of strengthening our community’s capacity moving forward. By welcoming other organisations to lead on projects, we can also continue to expand our understanding of “Queerness”.
TR Can you tell us more about bones tan jones’ show?
AJ Tunnel Visions is a site-specific solo exhibition and bones tan jones’ first institutional presentation in the UK. It features a central monolith that pays tribute to the Ankerwycke Yew, a 2,500-year-old tree that tan jones encountered during a six-day walking pilgrimage. Beginning at the Silvertown Tunnel, the pilgrimage took the artist to Stonehenge in Wiltshire, also the site of a new road tunnel. The plans to build a tunnel underneath Stonehenge will have similar environmental implications to the Silvertown Tunnel, as well as desecrating the earth at one of the world’s most ancient sacred sites. During their pilgrimage, tan jones connected with the environment and its ecosystems, singing for the healing of the land with the people they met. It was a journey of discovery, recorded in a written diary and audio notes. The pilgrimage ended at Stonehenge on the summer solstice, astrologically significant to the foundation of the ancient site. Here, tan jones met with Stonehenge Heritage Action Group (SHAG) and its female, lesbian, intersex, trans and agender (FLINTA) following, both of whom are protesting the planned construction of the Stonehenge Tunnel as part of the Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site campaign. ◉