"Haring painted with a beat, using the city as a canvas to paint his unique iconography and, like his friend Jean-Michel Basquiat, elevated the idea of street art/graffiti in the process."
Illustration by Elena Durey.
Sarah Kane by Bob Chicalors
'As my favourite DIY banner put it, “NOT GAY AS IN HAPPY, QUEER AS IN FUCK YOU”. My kind of queer. The kind of queer I think of as my version of Sarah Kane. Dark, aggressive, unhappy but not in the way you might have assumed - someone who knows the pleasure of misery.'
Illustration by Elena Durey.
George Michael by Nick Levine
"At the apex of his fame, George created an iconic image - stubble, sunglasses, badass leather jacket - that led to him being presented as a heterosexual sex symbol. This wasn't quite the real George, who was gradually realising behind closed doors that he was probably - definitely - a gay man."
Illustration by Elena Durey.
Tallulah Bankhead by Anastasia Orekhov
"It’s almost impossible to explain what it feels like to grow up gay if you’ve only grown up straight. For me, there was no flashbulb moment, no Big Bang realisation... Your sense of sexual self ebbs and flows with the gossip of the playground. Of course I’m not... but am I?"
Illustration by Fernando Monroy
Isabella Blow by Harriet Verney
Harriet Verney writes about her late aunt, fashion icon Isabella Blow. "It was the early naughties and Izzy was at her most exuberant. The outfits were getting more elaborate, bigger, more in danger of getting caught in a closing door and generally wilder. The hats were getting taller, more intricate and louder while Izzy’s fame was reaching its peak."
Illustration by Fernando Monroy based on an image by Miguel Reveriego
Larry Levan and Paradise Garage by Reba Maybury
"Opening in Manhattan in 1977, Paradise Garage ran for ten years and its most famous resident DJ was Larry Levan, now thought of as one of history’s ever super star DJs. It is hard to articulate the absolute importance of this nightclub and Levan’s work on modern music, club culture and LGBT culture because it is so vast."
Illustration by Fernando Monroy
Frank O'Hara by Sophie Heawood
"I don’t know if it explains why I’ve never fallen in love or why I fall in love every single day, but there’s this poem that implanted itself in my brain when I was young, and until I reach the sort of love it describes I don’t think I’ll be satisfied..."
Illustration by Fernando Monroy
INTERVIEW: Theo Adams
Theo Adams is creative director and founder of a collective of performers creating some of the most mind blowing, exhilarating, and moving performances imaginable.
Illustration by Fernando Monroy based on an image by Nick Knight
Laverne Cox by Paris Lees
Paris Lees is an award-winning writer, presenter and equality campaigner – described as “the voice of a generation by i-D magazine” - and shares why Laverne Cox has been such an inspiration in her life.
Illustration by Fernando Monroy
Leigh Bowery by Sue Tilley
Painter Luicien Freud's muse Sue Tilley opens up about her friendship with revolutionary performance artist Leigh Bowery- the original club kid.
Illustration by Constantin Prozorov
Cookie Mueller by Amelia Abraham
Author, actress, muse of photographer Nan Goldin, Cookie Mueller pops up throughout American counter culture. Writer Amelia Abraham explores a life less ordinary.
Illustration by Constantin Prozorov
Robert Mapplethorpe by David Croland
A chance meeting with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and his then girlfriend Patti Smith at New York's iconic Chelsea Hotel would change the course of artist David Croland's life forever.
Illustration by David Croland.
Kate Bornstein by Juno Dawson
‘I was Journalist, 'Queen of Teen' and multi-award winning author Juno Dawson shares the inspiring life of 'gender outlaw' Kate Bornstein.
Illustration by Gordon Flores.
Pepper LaBeija by George M Johnson
'Quiet as it has been kept, the LGBTQ movement has been ongoing for nearly 100 years. Often left out of the history, many of the leaders of our past including James Baldwin, Alice Walker, and Duke Ellington identified across the sex and gender spectrum; these narratives only discussed long after the heights of their careers.'
Illustration by Constantin Prozorov
Amanda Lepore by Aimee Phillips
Aimee Philips writes about her club kid days and friendship with living artwork and pop culture icon Amanda Lepore.
Illustration by Constantin Prozorov
Vanessa Bell by Richard Dodwell
Digital artist Richard Dodwell explores his complex relationship with the work of painter, and sister of Virginia Woolf, Vannessa Bell: 'I suppose I first encountered Vanessa on one of those grey, windy afternoons when one is skint and finds themselves walking around a large national art gallery...'
Illustration by Elena Durey.
Aiyyana Maracle by Morgan M Page
'There are certain people who make things possible that were not before. If you’re fortunate, you’ll learn about the lives and legacies of those who made your own life possible. '
Illustration by Elena Durey.
Prince by George M Johnson
'The day he died, I went through emotions I had never felt before. I recall calling my Aunt whose favorite artist was Prince. We were talking and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I began crying uncontrollably and said, “He was the first person I remember being just like me and now he’s gone.” '
Illustration by Elena Durey.
INTERVIEW: Soko
'There's nothing more that i find more sad in a way, than people not living their full truth or not trying to explore what their truth is and how they could make themselves happier if they were not being so hard on themselves and trying to look like the kardashians.'
Illustration by Elena Durey.
Derek Jarman by Richard Dodwell
'I first encountered Derek in his garden. It was a glossy photo book with images of marine plants and strange, contorted metal sculptures sticking out of the shingle at violent angles, some with witch stones hooked around their jagged ends, like strange mementos that a ghost from the sea had left.'
Illustration by Elena Durey.