An NFT portrait series from photographer Luke Nugent celebrates queer culture in the UK whilst raising funds for LGBTIQ+ community shelter The Outside Project
When filmmaker Derek Jarman first saw the model and actress Pamela Rooke – also known as Jordan – at Victoria station, he penned the following in his diary. “White patent boots clattering down the platform, transparent plastic miniskirt revealing a hazy pudenda. Venus T-shirt. Smudged black eye-paint, covered with a flaming blonde beehive… the face that launched a thousand tabloids… art history as makeup.” Enamoured, the English artist and gay rights activist built a film around her and a host of punk rockers in the now cult 1978 flick Jubilee. Channelling anarchic aesthetics, and in reaction to the silver spectacle of state jubilation the previous year for Elizabeth II, the largely plotless and episodic film also starred punk luminaries Siouxsie Sioux and Adam Ant. Shakespearean spirits are commanded. A policeman is castrated to death. It was not everyone’s cup of tea.
Inspired by Jarman’s project, over 25 LGBTIQ+ creatives and allies from music, fashion and art will feature in a new, limited-edition digital portrait series by British photographer Luke Nugent, released in time for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this year. Titled ‘This Other Eden’, the project is launched by creative studio Temporal Shift in association with Palm NFT Studio and Nifty’s, with half of sale proceeds being donated to London’s LGBTIQ+ community shelter, The Outside Project. Last winter the centre and domestic abuse refuge supported over 60 people into crisis beds and many more through their outreach programmes, providing not only safety, but a locus for queer connection and self-expression. The reality remains that this wide spectrum is disproportionately represented in the young homeless population, with many having to leave home because of violence and rejection.
Available as NFTs from the 9th June, the portraits – including those of Munroe Bergdorf, Bimini, The Plastic Boy, Woody Cook and DJ Fat Tony – will be sold at prices ranging from £250 to several thousands. Commenting on the drop the founders of Temporal Shift, Jim Warboy and Fayann Smith, note: “At the eve of the Queen’s platinum jubilee, British identity is in flux, the tradition and social order the monarchy represent is juxtaposed with a nation embattled by rapid economic and cultural change. The surety of our monolithic institutions and shared ideals has fractured, defining a new landscape, where the wealth gap and the friction of polarised political discourse has shattered any illusion of a unified country.”
“Taking advantage of the spotlight that the Jubilee will shine upon the shifts and disruptions in our culture, Temporal Shift eschews the celebratory fizz of the occasion to explore a deeper narrative about the tensions and joys that exist at the fringe of mainstream culture. This Other Eden documents another kind of royalty, the innovators of queer creativity, a force that so often informs the zeitgeist, but whose heroes remain unsung.”
Carla Ecola, director of The Outside Project, adds: “We are hugely thankful for the support of the creative community in raising funds and awareness for this vital cause, adds . The Outside Project exists to make space for those in the queer community impacted by homelessness and domestic abuse. The LGBTIQ+ community needs to have secure identity responsive spaces on the city map that aren’t just connected to nightlife, and our organisation seeks to support the creation of basic housing and healthcare provisions for our community.”
Photography Luke Nugent
