To celebrate the Pink Jack’s 10th birthday, QX magazine caught up with its creator, David Gwinnutt.
Congratulations on reaching your ten-year anniversary this year; tell me about some of the projects you’re most proud of.
Some of the events Pink Jack has organised for the Peter Tatchell Foundation stand out; raising money to support Peter do his human rights work. We’ve been involved with some brilliant and diverse performers such as David McAlamont, David Hoyle, Stark Dallas Naked and Tom Allen. But the real pride is in seeing people that I don’t know with the Pink Jack, with it continuing having a life beyond me. Only last week The Telegraph had a picture of Labour MP Angela Eagle in her living room and there was a Pink Jack hanging behind her. Random and brilliant.
How has your work evolved in the last decade?
One huge difference is that I now use a lot of colour photography, whereas my idealistic younger self only used B&W. Digital allows much more creative freedom and makes photography more like painting in terms of what colour palette to use. I’ve also started doing some mixed media pieces playing on the themes of envy, jealousy, beauty – incorporating pictures from my archive with pearls, mirrors, barbed wire and other things!
Gay icons often feature in your work; who’s your personal icon and why?
As a photographer, David Bailey. He changed the idea of what a photographer could be culturally and he also changed the nature of fashion photography. Culturally he came to represent the 60’s and all the cool happenings and people of that time. He bedded his subjects and married a few of them too, including Catherine Deneuve – such an odd match. His fashion pictures were fresh and reflected his street-kid background rather than the stuffy society style that was in vogue at the time. He was fearless, knew who he was and wasn’t ruined by the fashion world.
Your photographic work has been chosen to be part of The Other Art Fair at the Truman Brewery, what can visitors expect to see from your display?
There will be some classic black & white portraits from the eighties including one of Leigh Bowery in his fur coat, which is also in the permanent collection of the NPG Australia. And there’ll be some new colour portraits of modern icons such as David Hoyle and Timberlina, which I hope will be new classics.
What are you working on in the future?
I have two more shows coming up, Flux at The Royal College of Art in December and a show at the National Portrait Gallery in 2017. I’ve finally got a photography website, davidgwinnutt.com and the Pink Jack website is being redesigned, so there’ll be some exciting things happening with that. And as a Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation I’m preparing events to mark 50 years of Peter’s campaigning in 2017 so if anyone has a good idea for an event let me know!
