Photographer Heather Glazzard gives us an intimate portrait of queer nightlife from the not-too-distant past.
Revisiting their photographic archive from 2017-2020, Heather Glazzard reminds us of pre-pandemic life. Zine, The World Before Sanitiser, is a snapshot of queer community and identity.
Glazzard’s photographs, set beside text cut from magazine and newspaper headlines, depict a world that for many of us now feels out of reach. The images are raw, capturing hedonistic and hazy moments of connection. Their zine chronicles nightlife in a way that feels intimate, affectionate and expressive.
For Glazzard, the absence of underground queer parties has accentuated their significance, telling Dazed, “I think the queer night spaces feel almost sacred now.”
On the topic of pre and post-pandemic partying, Glazzard told Dazed,
“The pictures are taken at queer nights, gigs, house parties, and warehouses in London; pub and club spaces in Manchester; and a queer festival and club in New York. These spaces meant community. I miss being with a load of people I know in the same room and dancing with them; I miss being close to people in that way. I find it really difficult to party in the same way via Zoom, I just get distracted.”
Funds from sales of the zine will go towards Glazzard’s top surgery.
Check out some of the images below:
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