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hellooo :) do you perchance have a face claim for the bent remus? i am particularly wondering if you have any specific vision for his hair but would love to see anything you have
Hello! Hmm not really…Sirius is partly inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe, and they’re all meant to be very 80s art scene types. Here are a few images that might be useful overall, though none of them are Remus-specific. Just a general vibe (:
hope this helps!
It’s a rough day here in the U.S. I spent election day paralyzed by deep dread; today, I have inauguration day off work (because, ironically, it is also MLK Day), and I anticipated it might be more of the same. I didn’t think I was going to be able to get anything done, and it's looking like I won't manage to get out of the house to the local they bar or craft night. One of the contradictions of writing “The Bent” is that I’ve never fully been immersed in the kind of in-person community centered on queerness that this fic depicts. It’s true that most of my irl friends are queer, and many of them create art, but I’ve always had a little too much social anxiety to really get in on that sort of queer scene, especially the parts involving late nights at the club (lol). But I always remind myself that fandom counts—queer fandom—it’s real queer community and real queer art. When you read comments on queer fics, you know how much they mean to people. So I decided to write some fic today: some really gay shit with lots of bodily fluids and queer&trans pleasure and anti-authoritarian politics, so that hopefully I, and anyone reading it, can feel some connection amidst this mess—connection to each other, to our bodies, to the parts of ourselves we refuse to stamp out. And it felt right to return to the world of “The Bent” today, given the political situation. This little Bent bonus, "Obscene Material," takes place in the immediate aftermath of a raid on the Flaming Bush, which sparks a need for care and closeness amongst the Marauders + Lily.
Sending love and solidarity to you wherever you are—goodness knows that many people are in precarious or difficult positions all over the world right now—and hoping you find some sense of belonging today. If you are a reader, a writer, a lurker, you belong here; you count. You have a home.
Read Obscene Material here. Read "The Bent" here.
chapter 11 on ao3
1985, London. The wizarding queer art scene revolves around a gallery called the Bent, where conceptual artist Remus Lupin and photographer Sirius Black exhibit their works, and a club called the Bush, where they spend time with Jane and Lily Potter, who work at a nearby heath clinic. Although war with Voldemort was averted, the wizarding world is still simmering with tension. In the face of increasing intolerance and calls for censorship, Remus’ art takes a riskier, more political turn, and he must figure out how to balance self-expression and safety. Also, he might be falling in love with his best friend.
Author's notes on ch. 11:
This is the second-to-last chapter! I have to say, it's been a strange time to be posting an HP fic, even one that's giving a big middle finger to JKR and everything shitty about the franchise. The antisemitism of the Hogwarts Legacy video game and JKR's ever-worsening transphobia are just absolutely miserably terrible and both impossible and irresponsible to ignore. I believe strongly in the value of fanworks that reshape and rewrite canon in truly transformative ways; I believe in the power a bunch of weirdos getting our grubby little hands all over source material that wasn't really meant for us and taking what we want from it to turn it into a source of community, inspiration, and joy. I also know that sometimes the well is so poisoned the foul taste of canon and the creator linger no matter what. I've long since reached the point of no return when it comes to canon and the franchise; my engagement with Harry Potter pretty much begins and ends with very explicitly trans-inclusive and antiracist internet fandom spaces. I know lots of people can no longer even stand to participate in those spaces because it feels so bad just to think about Harry Potter now. I wonder sometimes if I'm leaning in that direction myself.
Except, look at you all--what a bunch of brave and gorgeous weirdos. It's good to be angry with you. It's good to be joyful with you.
One more chapter next week; for now, here are some brave and gorgeous weirdos from our queer past:
Artists and performers from Club 57 in St. Mark's Place, NYC, circa 1980.
And here are couple good articles on this club/performance space:
Club 57 and the sweet, sweet smell of St. Mark’s Place
Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983
chapter 2 on ao3
1985, London. The wizarding queer art scene revolves around a gallery called the Bent, where conceptual artist Remus Lupin and photographer Sirius Black exhibit their works, and a club called the Bush, where they spend time with Jane and Lily Potter, who work at a nearby heath clinic. Although war with Voldemort was averted, the wizarding world is still simmering with tension. In the face of increasing intolerance and calls for censorship, Remus’ art takes a riskier, more political turn, and he must figure out how to balance self-expression and safety. Also, he might be falling in love with his best friend.
Author's notes on ch. 2:
This chapter involves Remus and Sirius photographing Jane as part of a joint art piece about gender identity. Trans women have always been critical to queer life, queer art, and queer rights movements, and I wanted this fic to acknowledge that. The 80s wasn't a very kind time for trans people, who faced discrimination and hatred not only from mainstream society but many lesbian feminists as well. Yet there were many trans folks who flourished, embracing a wide variety of lifestyles, modes of gender expression, and concepts of gender. Jane's preferences and experiences in this fic--she isn't really concerned about passing, and she doesn't feel much gender dysphoria--aren't, of course, meant to represent all trans women then or now, but are specific to her. Like most of her friends, she embraces a queer identity (both trans and bi) and does not give a fuck about conventionality. I think Remus and Sirius both adore her in a way that is less complicated than their love for each other, and I wanted to show them expressing that through their art (which is the way they express pretty much everything).
“Vanessa [in a Fur Jacket]” 1978-1989, left, and “Andy Becoming Andi, near San Francisco,” 1978-1989, right, by Mariette Pathy Allen (source)
Here are a few articles about trans experiences in the 80s:
BEING TRANS IN THE 1980S - NIGHTLIFE, PART 1 AND 2 (Digital Collections of the History Project)
Captivating Scenes of Trans Life Across America in the '80s: Celebrating Gender Expression
Gen(d)erations: How Sandy Stone “Struck Back” Against Transmisogyny
chapter 1 on ao3
1985, London. The wizarding queer art scene revolves around a gallery called the Bent, where conceptual artist Remus Lupin and photographer Sirius Black exhibit their works, and a club called the Bush, where they spend time with Jane and Lily Potter, who work at a nearby heath clinic. Although war with Voldemort was averted, the wizarding world is still simmering with tension. In the face of increasing intolerance and calls for censorship, Remus’ art takes a riskier, more political turn, and he must figure out how to balance self-expression and safety. Also, he might be falling in love with his best friend.
Author's notes:
This fic came out of both love and anger. Love for queer and feminist artists in the 80s and 90s who risked their reputations, safety, and livelihoods to take photos of men in BDSM gear or talk openly about sexual violence, who refused to whittle themselves down into something straight society would be comfortable with. And anger at contemporary laws like Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill and violence directed at drag queens and trans kids, and at the strain of gay conservatism that thinks the solution is to eliminate representations of kink, nonconformity, and radicalism from queer art and media. This is a fic about the struggles and the joys of being queer in a way that isn't meant to make other people comfortable.
It's also about friendship and intimacy and solidarity and falling in love! It's about sticking together in the face of danger and figuring out who's really got your back. It's also about what happens when you accidentally have sex with your best friend in the bathroom of a gay club. Oops!
I wasn’t alive in the 80s, but this era of queer life and culture has always felt singularly important to me. Part of this probably had to do with the fact that I was a theatre kid, and theatre people tend to remember the AIDS crisis pretty vividly, since it took so many of their own. (Also, I was very into Rent in high school.) Part of it is because a lot of foundational queer theory comes out of this moment. I imprinted pretty hard on Epistemology of the Closet in particular, which is in many ways a response to AIDS-era homophobia. And many of my teachers were around, or taught by people who were around, during this exciting, terrifying period of queer history. As I post a new chapter every Sunday, I'll also post author's notes, photos, and links to additional resources about the real-life people and events that inspired this fic.
This week, here's some stuff about queer art and artists in this period:
Photos by David Gwinnutt of Stephen Linard and Cerith Wyn Evans
Some good articles:
Blitz spirit: the queer art underground of 1980s London – in pictures
Queer Life in the '70s and '80s: Art, Activism, & AIDS
22 Photos of LGBTQ+ Writers, Artists, & Activists of the '80s and '90s
Sending love to you all. Take care of yourselves! <3
