Queen Victoria Gardens

Who is allowed to be a blank canvas? Reflecting on the recent spate of cancellations on Drag Storytime programs due to hate speech and threats of violence, this project provides a platform to amplify the silenced, allowing queer humans to take up space without physical threats that comes from the public perception of ‘difference’.

Story Time: Breathing with Queer Ghosts invites all to listen to marginalised existence, acknowledging that it is a privilege to be seen. The event will present series of storytime recordings shared by queer and drag artists, where no performer will be physically present at the event—yet their bodies will be felt through absence.

Without a formal speaker-audience hierarchy, this is a cosy event for the public to drop into the pavilion, lay on the ground and listen to the stories over the sunset, an in-between time like fables where at dusk you can see between worlds and hear voices from far-off places, and anything is possible. By listening together we are being open to, and curious about, the queer stories trans and marginalised bodies have to offer, and challenging the exclusion from our society that certain bodies and voices often experience.

This event is an outcome of the 2023 M_Curators program, which supports young and ambitious art, design and creative workers to gain practical experience in developing and curating public events and programs.

The M_Curators program is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Collaborators:

Zoë Sydney is a painter, maker, and all-rounder science artist currently living and working in Melbourne. They love working around the boundaries of the body in relation to sexuality and gender, and love bringing big questions about the universe into small spaces. They also have a Bachelor in Physics specialising in quantum mechanics, and like dressing up as a pea in their spare time.

Joy Zhou is a transdisciplinary artist and design practitioner based in Naarm/Melbourne whose practice draws on embodied experiences to communicate complex intersectional relations. Expanding on their background in interior design, Joy works with immediate contexts. They often interrogate norms with queering gestures and aim to amplify unnoticed existence within everyday life.

Alexander McKween is THE technicolour dreamboat of the Melbourne drag scene. Their drag challenges and blurs the lines of the gender binary to bring you a gorgeous fuzz framed mug that only 5 years of needles to the ass could grow.

Moxie Delite is the Cult Classic of Melbourne Drag- MOXIE DELITE! Hailing from the Haus of Obsidian, Moxie Delite is a draglesque diva and deviant, disrupting the local scene with humour and horror. Though she does her best to crush expectations and break the rules, after winning three local competitions since 2019, Moxie might have to admit it- she’s a crown-wearing pageant queen! So fierce she’s feral, so unhinged she’s unreal. She’ll get under your skin, and on your nerves! Hold on tight for the transfemme fatale herself – for Moxie Delite!

Mimi Le Minge is not just any drag queen, she is THE Vietnamese Sensation. She is known to serve some of the most iconic looks, hair and performance. Growing up in Vietnam for 18 years, she struggled to find her identity as a young boy, knowing that she was worlds different from other boys she knew. But guess what? Now she’s here to spill the tea on her journey to becoming the coolest and bravest queer person you’ll ever know!