Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife Review
Amelia Abraham's book 'Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife' (MACK, 2026) assembles photographs and texts to challenge dismissals of queer nightlife as hedonistic. The cover features Meryl Meisler's 1978 image of two women embracing at Les Mouches in New York. Archival photos from a lesbian strip-club in late-1970s São Paulo sit alongside contemporary drag-king documentation, refusing a hierarchy between respectability and eroticism. The recurring motif of the kiss threads through images by Lola Flash ('Vesta', c. 1990) and an anonymous shot of Vanessa Sander in Salta, Argentina (1988, from the Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina). Dean Sameshima's hazy iPhone image 'being alone (No.6)' (2022) from an adult movie theatre preserves concealment. Ariel Goldberg's essay 'The Hungry Eye' identifies darkness and blur as forms of protection, citing photographers Diana Solís and Stephen Barker. The book costs £50 in softcover.
Key facts
- Book titled 'Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife' edited by Amelia Abraham
- Published by MACK in 2026
- Cover features Meryl Meisler's photograph 'Two Women Embrace on Floor Next to Judi Jupiter’s Legs, Les Mouches, NY, June 1978'
- Includes archival photos from a lesbian strip-club in late-1970s São Paulo
- Features Lola Flash's 'Vesta' (c. 1990)
- Includes anonymous photograph 'Vanessa Sander and her boyfriend, Salta, Argentina' (1988) from Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina
- Dean Sameshima's 'being alone (No.6)' (2022) taken in an adult movie theatre
- Ariel Goldberg's essay 'The Hungry Eye' discusses visibility and exposure
- Goldberg cites photographers Diana Solís and Stephen Barker
- Softcover price: £50
Entities
Artists
- Amelia Abraham
- Meryl Meisler
- Lola Flash
- Vanessa Sander
- Dean Sameshima
- Ariel Goldberg
- Diana Solís
- Stephen Barker
- Bernice Mulenga
- Wolfgang Tillmans
- Lyle Ashton Harris
- Susan Kravitz
- Mohamad Abdouni
- Jean-Marc Armani
- Slava Mogutin
- Laura Aguilar
- Legacy Russell
- McKenzie Wark
- Brontez Purnell
- Weegee
- Roxy Lee
- Rosa Gauditano
- Sunil Gupta
- Kary Kwok
- Spyros Rennt
- Del LaGrace Volcano
- David Campany
- Rene Matić
- Sabelo Mlangeni
- Alice O'Malley
- Dani d'Ingeo
- Michele Baron
- Chloe Sherman
- Cecelia Estalles
- Kia LaBeija
- Phyllis Christopher
- Linda Simpson
- Dave Swindells
- Mirko Albini
- Charan Singh
- Elegance Bratton
- Asa Seresin
- Tourmaline
- Ajamu X
- Leigh Bowery
- Lady Bunny
- Andrew Logan
- Robert Mapplethorpe
- Charli XCX
- Troye Sivan
- FKA twigs
- Madonna
- Jordan Firstman
- Seán McGirr
- Emilia Wickstead
- Oscar Ouyang
- Adriene Maree Brown
- Madison Moore
Institutions
- MACK
- Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina
- ArtReview
- CULTURED
- UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
- Laura Aguilar Trust 2016
- DACS
- It's Nice That
- Bishopsgate Institute Archives
- The Guardian
- Mack
- Vogue
- GmbH
- McQueen
- Cannes Film Festival
- Plastic (nightclub)
- Adonis (nightclub)
Locations
- New York
- United States
- São Paulo
- Brazil
- Salta
- Argentina
- London
- United Kingdom
- Paris
- France
- New York City
- Vauxhall
- San Francisco
- Mexico
- Lagos
- Nigeria
- Milan
- Italy
- India