Divine delivers her radical new plan for Queer London to the Mayor Sadiq Khan, Night Czar Amy Lame and the ghost of Horace Walpole . Digital illustration, author’s own
The Narrative.
‘London as a Queer Island and the House of Extravaganza’
“The year is 2020. Divine III, the author’s drag alter ego, responds to mayor’s pro LGBTQ+ 2018 manifesto and replaces it with a new radical plan that places Strawberry Hill at the heart of its development strategy. Much like Horace, who built a castle to protect his queer identity from the world, fortifications will be built around London, to protect the island from the outside forces that threaten its very existence. Fortifications act as a metaphor for the necessary planning changes and policies that must be put in place by city-makers.
The story begins with sorrow and tears. Starting with XXL, memorial altars each responding to a closed LGBTQ+ venue are erected on their doorstep. While the community grieves their loss, a grand renovation project undergoes inside those premises adding to the morbid curiosity of the crowds. Once the scaffoldings are gone, their programme will be enriched, in order to accommodate activism and togetherness. Meanwhile, new temporary venues appear to be thriving in zone 2 and beyond, after Divine has instructed the councils of the periphery to give priority to LGBTQ+ groups in search for affordable vacant spaces.
‘A Memorial Altar for XXL’ . Installation. Mixed media. photograph by the author
And whilst the future of queer urban life appears to be nomadic, the community deserves that sort of permanence in the built environment -a foundation- that other ethnic or religious cultures enjoy.
To that extend, at the edge of the city, Strawberry Hill is established as London’s first queer palace: The House of Extravaganza. Elements of its original plan are reimagined in the estate's vast green spaces as fragments. Those fragments correspond to the most common typologies of queer space in the city. A gay bathhouse, a drag stage, a pleasure garden and a cruising park are some of the typologies that take center stage at Strawberry Hill- as sites for gender performativity. Ranging from permanent to temporary, these deployable architectures will be constructed in their full extend every year during pride month, becoming the backdrops for the annual festival of the House of Extravaganza. The festival is an opportunity for visitors beyond the community to immerse in a queer wonderland and understand the spatial politics of the ‘other’ citizen.
The house is protected by an army of guards, dressed in shiny gold shorts and big furry hats. Their main duty is to disarm visitors of homophobia, transphobia and other harmful prejudices upon arrival. Every hour you can watch them stepping out of their posts and into a ceremonial runway routine that involves voguing, strutting and a lot of attitude. Behold, it’s not to be missed!
Some of the highlights include the ‘Cathedral’, an elongated structure with a breath-taking arch canopy that promotes hedonism and sexual transgression through a set of interconnected showers. On the contrary, the ‘The garden of Queer delights’ is a shielded space for romantic encounters and literary discussions, an escape for those seeking deeper personal connections in the age of online hooking apps. Central to the masterplan is the ‘Archive’, a permanent museum for London’s queer heritage. The rainbow flag that welcomed visitors to the Joiners Arms, Madame Jojo’s infamous neon lights and the pink tank used during the 1995 pride parade are some of the memorabilia on display. The ‘Archive’ offers weekly guided tours of the collections in the tradition of Horace Walpole house tours.
During the annual festival, a gigantic stage gets erected on the rear of the estate. Envisioned as a disruption to the mundane, ‘the stage’ hosts variety shows from London’s most exciting drag performers. By employing Strawberry Hill’s south elevation as a theatrical backdrop, the stage is the city’s greatest performance venue. Its construction is a spectacle in itself. Under the supervision of powerfully built contractors, a set of pulleys and hoists aids its assembly, while a veil of translucent theatrical curtains amplifies the building paraphernalia. The dressing rooms and storage facilities are carefully disguised within tower-like structures on each side of the stage. Two large gothic windows allow for a rare glimpse into the dressing rooms, so spectators can watch the concoction of drag in all its glory.
As the popularity of Strawberry Hill grows, so does the demand for a faster access to the site. Transport for London revises the plans for the Elizabeth line set to open in 2021, by diverting its trains at Strawberry hill station during weekends, allowing easy and fast connectivity to the city.
To commemorate the success of Divine’s new plan the BT Tower becomes a giant prop to celebrate the island and its core values. The tower’s iconic facade transforms into a Gothic beacon, where illuminated messages are shown far and wide across its rotating screen. Lastly, river Thames, the natural infrastructure that divides the island in two, becomes a vital point of the next pride celebrations. Supported by the mayor, the river hosts the first annual floating pride- sending a message of resistance, union and resilience from the one end of London, to the other.”