Camp Stonewall

Installed from 10 September 2010 to 31 March 2011

Darlinghurst Community art Contemporary art LGBTIQA+Public art Temporary art

2.4 metre high wall clad in glazed tiles with writing on random tiles

Wall clad in glazed tiles with writing on a tile that reads: 40 years and we'll keep on fighting

Camp Stonewall commemorated the 40th anniversary of CAMP (Campaign Against Moral Persecution) – Australia’s first openly homosexual organisation – and celebrated the history of the local area.

Intersection of Oxford Street, Bourke Street, Forbes Street

Darlinghurst 2010

Directions and transport

Artist: Annie Kennedy

This artwork was temporary and is no longer at this location.

Artwork description

Artist Annie Kennedy worked with leading gay and lesbian activists from the 1970s and the local community to create Camp Stonewall. The artwork created a resonant and powerful installation exploring the broader struggle for gay rights mixed with personal ‘coming out’ stories written by members of the local gay and lesbian community.

Camp Stonewall was composed of several elements. Juxtaposing the former women’s toilet block above ground with the historic former underground men’s convenience, where men met secretly and out of sight, the artwork recognised that homosexuality is now in full view and well integrated into our local community.

The artwork was a monument, both in its physical presence and in what it contained within its walls – the recorded history of gay rights.

A neon sign at the top of the women’s historic brick toilet block acknowledged the CAMP organisation, which was at the frontline in the fight to decriminalise homosexuality in Australia.

The sign played on language belonging to gay culture and the idea of a camp where soldiers of a cause gather for the fight. Neon also has connotations of nightclub signs and acknowledged the tremendous vitality of gay culture and Oxford Street history.
A 2.4m high wall clad in glazed tiles surrounded the women’s toilets at the southern end of the substation building. Sydney’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities were invited to paint tiles for the wall answering the questions ‘What was it like for you to come out?’ or ‘What do gay rights mean to you?’

The wall was symbolic of both the gay struggle and the history of the site in 2 ways. Firstly, it was like turning the toilet walls inside out, reflecting written and drawn graffiti, personal messages and political statements. The once private meeting place ‘comes out’ into open and public view. Secondly, the substation building housing the toilets looked like a fortress, a site for generating attack and for defending.

A virtual wall was created through the City of Sydney website where people added their responses during the project.
A lamp post installed on the men’s urinal plinth, reinterpreted the original post from the early 1900s, that carried street signs for the roads radiating from Taylor Square and illuminated the square.

In the spirit of reclaiming local history, Camp Stonewall reinstated the traditional sign post with a working lantern on top. But rather than street names the signs indicated the new directions opened by gay rights.

The blades pointed in different directions, saying Men's, Women's, Liberation, Dignity, Pride, Love. It symbolically radiated these values and accomplishments, championing the victory of gay rights and invigorating the urinal as a site of respect.

“The wall reflects the monumental struggle for gay rights. Made up of the thousands of individual tiles it creates a huge impact on the landscape just as the struggle, composed of each individual action, led to great change.”

– Annie Kennedy, 2010

Artist

Annie Kennedy is a National Art School alumnus and has a particular interest in public art and the exploration of social issues. She was artist-in-residence at the school while working on the Camp Stonewall project.