ZIGGY AND ALADDIN: THE EVOLUTION OF QUEER ICON
Join us at Kingston Museum for the latest in a series of FREE talks inspired by our current exhibition, Bowie and Beyond - in partnership with Community Brain and Creative Youth's AMP Kingston Heritage Project.
How did the originality and queerness of Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane emerge? In this talk, researcher and writer Megan Stevenson delves into the many influences behind Ziggy and Aladdin, from Japanese theatre to French fashion magazines, and considers what makes an image ‘queer’. This talk considers the queerness in Bowie’s performance in the Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars tour and his infamous Aladdin Sane album photography and asks, fifty years later, what does it mean to consider Ziggy Stardust a queer icon today?
The talk begins at 14:00 on Saturday 29th July at Kingston Museum and will be followed by a short Q & A / discussion period afterwards until 15:30. 'Ziggy and Aladdin: The Evolution of a Queer Icon' is a free event and forms part of a programme of events inspired by the Bowie & Beyond exhibition at Kingston Museum. Spaces are limited, so places must be reserved in advance on Eventbrite. If you are unable to attend after booking, please cancel your reservation to allow others to attend in your place.
About the speaker:
Megan Stevenson is a researcher and writer whose work focuses primarily on queer photography. Her master’s dissertation at the Courtauld Institute of Art focused on the style and performance of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. Since graduating, Megan has become a regular contributor for photography research group Sisters of the Lens, has written articles for magazines including Contingent Magazine and Neighbourhood Magazine, and recently curated the exhibition ‘Dorothy Wilding: 130 Photographs’ in Gloucester.
Book on Eventbrite