Welcome to Archer’s Queer Fashion Files! Each month, we’ll interview queer trendsetters and tastemakers, showcasing the diversity and talent of the fashion world. You can check out all episodes of our Queer Fashion Files here.

In Episode 2, Hailey Moroney chats to Liz Ham about her recent series commissioned by Powerhouse to accompany their Absolutely Queer exhibition, which is on now until the end of 2023.

For over 20 years, Liz Ham has been crafting captivating imagery in a wide-ranging career that spans documentary, fashion and portrait photography. Throughout her practice, Liz employs all three of these skills, weaving them together to create a body of work that’s best known for celebrating her subjects and centering their identity.

All images by: Liz Ham (courtesy of Powerhouse)

Hailey Moroney: Liz! Hello! I am such an admirer of your work, so bear with me while I fangirl my way through some questions. Let’s jump straight into it! Your most recent series was commissioned by Powerhouse to accompany the Absolutely Queer exhibition, which is a celebration of queer creativity for Sydney WorldPride 2023. Tell me how this series came about.

Liz Ham: I had heard a few friends talking about their involvement in the Absolutely Queer exhibition for Sydney WorldPride. I was so excited to see how it would all come together, and when the Powerhouse contacted me with this commission, I was over the moon. 

I’ve recently been concentrating on large format portraiture in my practice, and really wanted to pitch that as my methodology for this series. The Powerhouse team understood my approach, and were happy to afford me a very open brief for these portraits.

My approach was to create collaborative photographs with each of the nine subjects that spoke not only of their artistic practice, but hinted at how and where their creativity manifested. 

I asked each artist to describe a space that resonated with them, and made them feel secure, contented and inspired. I photographed each of the subjects in medium and large format. The latter format was achieved using a customised 4×5 rangefinder camera called a Razzle – this process allowed for a slower, more meditative, and contemplative photographic process.

Beautiful and Useful Studio: Matthew Aberling and Maurice Goldberg, photographed in Beaconsfield, 18 January 2023
Matthew and Maurice make work that is interactive, playful and fun, while informing and engaging the audience with themes of social inclusion and cultural diversity. For their portrait, Matthew and Maurice had the interim test model for their Absolutely Queer installation available to inflate within their studio. It reached the ceiling of their two-story warehouse! “The final artwork for the exhibition is a 7-metre-tall inflatable archway and tells the story of how protest and fabulousness collided together to radically evolve human rights in Australia.”

Dennis Golding, photographed at Botany Bay, 15 February 2023
Dennis met me at Molineaux Point, Botany Bay. From this lookout, you can see the heads that Cook sailed past in 1770, and the landing place. In a reclamation of land and country, Golding, a Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist, returns to this location for his art practice, drawing inspiration from his own experiences living in urban environments and through childhood memories. Dennis explained to me that this peninsula of La Perouse was also where his family moved to after leaving The Block in Redfern where he had the best memories of his Nan’s place. In this portrait, Dennis is wearing one of the beautiful capes that he designed to coincide with his installation in this show. He looks like a superhero, because he is one.

HM: I first discovered your work through your book, Punk Girls. Did you find it to be an organic evolution from Punk Girls to your commission for Absolutely Queer? Were there any similarities you found in both cohorts? 

LH: Yes indeed! I have always explored subjects that sit outside of mainstream culture. Since producing my book, I have continued to photograph people who intrigue me, and they do usually sit within a more counter-cultural context.  

I would say that over half of my subjects for the Punk Girls project would identify as queer. There are so many intersections between punk and queer. When I consider the core values of punk, I think of community, resistance and non-conformity. Both punk and queer are built on these foundations; they embrace intersectionality and a non-normative stance.

Fuzzy Ghost: Peter Foley and Scott Ford, photographed in Camperdown, 15 December 2022
Pete and Scott are animators, illustrators and boyfriends. They make queer video games that are full of joy, humour and meaning. Pete explained to me that they spend every morning at Camperdown Park drinking their coffee and chatting about what they are working on. This morning ritual often finds them standing in the middle of the big empty basketball courts. “In winter, we looked ridiculous in our big faux-fur coats and colourful pants… on a basketball court. I feel like that sums us up nicely: scruffy in big f*ggy coats, happily looking kind of awkward.”

Justin Shoulder, photographed at Gordons Bay, 25 January 2023
Justin and I have made several photographs together over the years, often in costume and as a process to develop or document Justin’s various characters and performance works. For this portrait, I was keen to capture them in a state that sits in-between the artist and the performer/character. We both had the simultaneous notion to photograph within a rockpool environment. It is as though they are emerging out of the wetness, in-between wet and dry, water and land.

HM: You’ve been working in the industry commercially for the last two decades. In this time, the fashion community has started to evolve and catch up to the underground, where all trends are born. Do you think the industry is finally starting to reflect the diversity of the creative community that feeds it, or do we have a longer way to go?

LH: I think it’s wonderful to see more representations of diversity and individualism within mainstream media these days. When it’s actually inclusive and collaborative, it feels effortless and just right. Too often, and usually when situated more commercially, this can sometimes feel tokenistic and insincere – and this is why I believe there is still a way to go. 

I really enjoy witnessing the rupturing of conventional modes and transmissions of fashion media and representation that we see in art, online, in clubs and in more transgressive media.

Nikita Majajas, photographed in Woodford, 11 January 2023
I have known Nikita for most of my adult life. We have spent much time together playing, photographing and creating together. Nikita responded that she felt most at ease creatively in her new home in the Blue Mountains. I hadn’t visited her here yet, so I jumped at this opportunity to capture her in her new environment. Always pushing the boundaries of jewellery and the object, and intersecting with the provocative, political and pop, we see Nikita in her living room in a thoughtful and determined mode.

Katie-Louise Nicol-Ford and Lilian Nicol-Ford, photographed at Marrickville, 21 January 2023
For this image of the artist/designers Nicol and Ford, we wanted to make a portrait that was not only about their creative process but also their relationship with the body, community, and each other. “Our concept for this portrait contrasts the idealised bodies of ancient sculptures with our community’s ability to celebrate, alter and construct themselves, enjoying the privileges of expression afforded to our generation thanks to those who came before us. Our sculptural, phallic-inflected hair was inspired by the erotic drawings of Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), who sketched coded sexualised depictions of his wife Sofia in domestic settings. Our ability to celebrate and empower ourselves and our community through our work is our greatest joy, placing the diversity of our communities on pedestals to be adored and venerated.”

HM: What was your favourite part about working on Absolutely Queer and watching the exhibition come to life at Powerhouse?

LH: I was intrigued to see how the Absolutely Queer exhibition would take shape. The nine artists and collectives are all so unique and varied, and I wondered how it would all come together! 

Absolutely Queer is a brilliant show. Each of the artists I met raved about the curatorial and exhibition design team they worked with. It is really immersive and quite intimate (considering the scale!). Absolutely Queer feels more like a club-like environment than a museum exhibition.  

My favourite part of the photographic process was the collaborative aspect of creating these portraits with the subjects’ consultation and input. I really enjoy spending time with people in spaces that they have a deep connection to, so liberating most of the artists from being photographed in a typical studio space was fun! Although there was no getting out of the making-space for the portrait of Matthew and Maurice (Beautiful and Useful Studio) – that location truly is their happy place!  

Norrie, photographed in Waterloo, 22 January 2023
Norrie is a passionate advocate for public housing. As such, they wanted to be photographed at home in the Waterloo public housing estate where they feel most relaxed and at home. In addition to this, the estate had been slated for impending demolition by the previous state/lib government, and therefore Norrie felt this environment as a backdrop would also hold some archival significance.

Rene Rivas, photographed at Waterloo Oval, 19 January 2023
Rene and I met at his apartment in Waterloo late in the afternoon. I felt instantly at home with him and his beautiful, generous and lovely nature as he gave me a tour of his vast archive of amazing costumes. Rene’s home is where everything is kept now since moving out of his studio during the pandemic – it is absolutely his safe and happy place. As we pulled out glittery capes, decorative hats, jewelled and layered collars, it became apparent to photograph Rene in a regal way. He is indeed the King of Costume. Despite the skies threatening to rain, we ventured across the road to the oval. Rene happily posed and laughed along with me, the local neighbours, and many visiting dogs. It might have drizzled a little, but it never really felt that way.

HM: What are you working on now? Anything exciting coming up?

LH: I’m building a series of portraits that continue on from my Punk Girls work, but with less binaries or constraints in terms of subject matter.

Lately, I am just following my instinct with how and when I select subjects to make portraits with, concentrating especially on working with people that I have a personal connection to. I’m not sure where this series will end up, but for the time being I’m enjoying not having too much of an end goal. It’s nice to work without pressure!

Sexy Galexy, photographed at Blues Point Reserve, 13 January 2023
When I asked Sexy Galexy where they felt their creativity best resonated with a space or context, they said: “I love Sydney Harbour; every time you see it, it’s always awe inspiring.” So, Sydney Harbour it was! Galexy truly dazzled in their Neptune-like tones and sequins, and we had quite a few passers-by come over and ask all about shoot. Sexy Galexy explained their practice so eloquently and generously to people who had never heard of a ‘drag king’ before: “I’m-a-more-of-a-woman-when-I’m-a-man Man.”

You can stay up to date with Liz Ham on Instagram, and check out Absolutely Queer at Powerhouse until the end of 2023.

If you want to pitch an idea for Archer’s Queer Fashion Files, email pitch@archermagazine.com.au with ‘QUEER FASHION FILES’ in the subject line. You can check out the rest of our Queer Fashion Files here.

Hailey Moroney is a photographer, entrepreneur, and digital marketing specialist based in Naarm (Melbourne). Since 2018, Hailey has been on the design team at Archer Magazine, the world’s most inclusive publication about sexuality and gender, curating images and managing the magazine’s Instagram channel. Hailey runs Bedford Studios, a vintage and upcycling studio that is size and gender inclusive. Hailey’s interests include vintage cars, cowboy boots and her three-legged kitten, Puzzles.