‘Misfits of the 1990s’ celebrated in exhibition

A new exhibition celebrating “the misfits and the oddballs who didn’t really fit in anywhere” has opened in Liverpool.

For Your Pleasure, which “explores queer club culture of the 1990s”, has been curated by Martin Green and James Lawler from DuoVision for the Open Eye Gallery.

The pair, who have worked with the LGBTQIA+ creative community since 2012, curate exhibitions by what they describe as undervalued artists, photographers and designers, aimed at engaging with a wider audience.

They said their creative company was “all about celebrating people from the queer community, the people who don’t fit in with anything, but create amazing work”.

Club culture was an integral part of their world, as Green was also a DJ and ran the influential ’90s club Smashing, while Lawler avidly frequented clubs in London and the North West.

Lawler said: “Both Martin and I have been going out to clubs since the early ’80s and the ’90s were the pinnacle of our clubbing years and where we draw all our inspiration from, so a lot of the exhibitions we do are all born in those clubs, from that culture.

“The photographs are all pre-internet, pre mobile phones, so no-one was taking pictures apart from a few club photographers, they were the only people recording it, so I think it’s quite exciting for a young audience to see these photographs.”

The show includes photography and video by Marc Vallée, Jon Shard, Donald Milne, David Swindells and a film by Tim Brunsden.

Green said the 90s were “a very exciting time for me” when he opened his own club, Smashing “for all the misfits and the oddballs who didn’t really fit in anywhere and through that club people like Jarvis Cocker and Blur and Oasis would come and hang out and then they started having huge hits and suddenly our scene exploded”.

“Once upon a time there were cities where squats were legal, rents affordable and old nightclubs sat empty,” the pair said.

“In these recession-hit places, kids from mixed backgrounds played and created together.

“Music was made, clubs were formed, boundaries were broken and great times were had. This was the UK in the early 1990s.”

Bronwyn Andrews, exhibition assistant curator and creative producer, said: “Martin and James are unique curators in that they are part of the community their practice represents.

“Building a network of artists, musicians, and designers over 30+ years, they have played no small role in creating safe, creative spaces for queer people to come together and express themselves.”

For Your Pleasure runs until 9 March.