Queer Giving is the material realisation of a practice-led research project into contemporary radical queer ways of being. It is one thesis composed of the film Mirror Mirror and the paper One Queer Gift. They are derivatives of my ethnographic investigation into the radical queer vision of London’s Club Wotever (2003-). Working within the potentials of their respective forms, both film and paper argue that radical queer identities, as found in the major urban centres of the metropolitan West, derive their multiple-meanings, integrity and raison d’etre within and through dialogue. Characterised by audio-visual provocation and cautious disclosure, Mirror Mirror reflects this formative feedback through its text and narrative drive.
Moffat’s practice is grounded in the shared anthropological work of ethnographic filmmaker Jean Rouch. In 1974, he placed a call for the audio-visual counter gift as a stimulant for mutual understanding and a route to the heart of knowledge. Rouch’s vision parallels that of her ethnographic field site. Just as London’s newest queer club played host to people of all genders and sexualities, the praxis of shared anthropology heartily welcomes in its subjects. Exploiting the radical nature of the audio-visual counter gift, the intention of this thesis is to convey a new confidence integral to contemporary queer identities, of which she has been the privileged beneficiary, witness and host.
watch the video at: http://queergiving.co.uk/watch/
*Zemirah Moffat, social anthropologist, documentary filmmaker and one of the first in the UK to complete an AVPhD, a practice-led doctorate in audio visual media, at the University of Westminster. It was an investigation into contemporary queer realities and an experiment in Shared Anthropology. Since 2009 she has been teaching workshops and courses in Participatory Audio Visual Ethnography.
