CLUBBING IS CULTURE

Pre COVID-19, queer spaces, club spaces and cultural spaces were increasingly under attack from too many new hotels and co-living developments and, frankly, a distinct lack of imagination in the planning of our cities and who our cities cater too. The loss of club spaces like Hangar and the Tivoli Theatre in Dublin felt like an ominous sign of the times. Our nighttime culture was at best misunderstood and at worst, maligned and ignored.
As LGBT+ folks, we have a long entwined history with clubbing as part of our cultural expression and creating safe spaces for one another. We know all too well how enriching clubbing can be and how it can be the birthplace of ideas, art and radical change.
In Stonewall’s transformative DNA is the power of people gathering on a dance floor to affect change, and in an Irish context, our little Island has boasted some of the finest clubs across the past few decades alone.
Before the pandemic, we commissioned photographer Donal Talbot to document clubbing in queer spaces as a way to celebrate the fact that Clubbing is Culture. Clubbing is queer culture.
Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing the portraits.