As She Likes It: Christine Beckett @ The Rainbow Tea Rooms, Chester
1 March - 30 June 2024
Living in the city can offer a person anonymity; in it we can be unknown and left alone. This gives us licence to be who we want to be — a chance to reinvent our own story. The polar opposite is the village where everyone knows everybody else’s business; each knows who the other is, what the other likes, and what they think about each other. Manchester is one of the largest cities in Britain. It sprawls across the middle of the country expanding into nearby towns that lie around its perimeter. Pulled to its centre are all the diverse fragments that form new communities. Along the Rochdale canal in Manchester, a village evolved. The Canal Street gay village was a place where a person could be who they wanted to be, enjoy what they liked, and did not need to worry about what others thought.
In 2009, Christine Beckett was a visitor to this village. Beckett has been taking photographs since the early 1970s. Born in Brixton, London, she relocated to St Helens, Merseyside in 2012. It was in 2015 that Beckett’s friend, Lydia Bernsmeier-Rullow, asked her to take photographs of a Drag King event in Manchester. Bernsmeier-Rullow, under the stage name ‘Slick Dick’, led a small group of drag kings called ‘The Boi Zone’. The initial photoshoot developed into a substantial project, and Slick Dick’s group took centre stage. Beckett’s book, titled ‘Drag Kings of Manchester’ was published in 2023. In her review of Beckett’s book on the Open Eye Gallery blog, Amy Sanders describes the photographs as an ‘historical artistic record of Manchester’s rich LGBTQ+ history.’
Ten photographs taken from the book ‘Drag Kings of Manchester’ are on display at Chester Pride’s Rainbow Tea Rooms. This exhibition space is situated at the centre of the small cathedral city of Chester. A very different environment to its regional neighbour, Chester is composed of several interlocking communities some of which operate as villages that have their own identities. It is between the gaps that newcomers have to find a place in this city that is not city-like. Neither anonymous or known the LGBTQ+ communities are visible defining who they are and what they like.
The Rainbow Tea Rooms are situated at 28 Bridge Street, Chester, CH1 1NQ. Opening hours: 9.30 am – 5 pm weekdays, 9 am – 6 pm Saturdays, 10 am – 5 pm Sundays.
The exhibition is curated by Stephen Clarke, Senior Lecturer in Art and Design: Critical and Contextual Studies, University of Chester.
Text: Stephen Clarke
Image: Christine Beckett
Living in the city can offer a person anonymity; in it we can be unknown and left alone. This gives us licence to be who we want to be — a chance to reinvent our own story. The polar opposite is the village where everyone knows everybody else’s business; each knows who the other is, what the other likes, and what they think about each other. Manchester is one of the largest cities in Britain. It sprawls across the middle of the country expanding into nearby towns that lie around its perimeter. Pulled to its centre are all the diverse fragments that form new communities. Along the Rochdale canal in Manchester, a village evolved. The Canal Street gay village was a place where a person could be who they wanted to be, enjoy what they liked, and did not need to worry about what others thought.
In 2009, Christine Beckett was a visitor to this village. Beckett has been taking photographs since the early 1970s. Born in Brixton, London, she relocated to St Helens, Merseyside in 2012. It was in 2015 that Beckett’s friend, Lydia Bernsmeier-Rullow, asked her to take photographs of a Drag King event in Manchester. Bernsmeier-Rullow, under the stage name ‘Slick Dick’, led a small group of drag kings called ‘The Boi Zone’. The initial photoshoot developed into a substantial project, and Slick Dick’s group took centre stage. Beckett’s book, titled ‘Drag Kings of Manchester’ was published in 2023. In her review of Beckett’s book on the Open Eye Gallery blog, Amy Sanders describes the photographs as an ‘historical artistic record of Manchester’s rich LGBTQ+ history.’
Ten photographs taken from the book ‘Drag Kings of Manchester’ are on display at Chester Pride’s Rainbow Tea Rooms. This exhibition space is situated at the centre of the small cathedral city of Chester. A very different environment to its regional neighbour, Chester is composed of several interlocking communities some of which operate as villages that have their own identities. It is between the gaps that newcomers have to find a place in this city that is not city-like. Neither anonymous or known the LGBTQ+ communities are visible defining who they are and what they like.
The Rainbow Tea Rooms are situated at 28 Bridge Street, Chester, CH1 1NQ. Opening hours: 9.30 am – 5 pm weekdays, 9 am – 6 pm Saturdays, 10 am – 5 pm Sundays.
The exhibition is curated by Stephen Clarke, Senior Lecturer in Art and Design: Critical and Contextual Studies, University of Chester.
Text: Stephen Clarke
Image: Christine Beckett
