An important event to make note of if you are situated in or near London, especially given the recent and deeply concerning developments at the Supreme Court in the UK. On the evening of Wednesday April 30th gallery Space Station Sixty-Five will be hosting a panel talk with an amazing line-up of artists including Steven Appleby (whose Dragman was reviewed here at Broken Frontier) and MJ Barker (whose Gender: A Graphic Guide with Jules Scheele was reviewed here and who we interviewed here). ‘Nothing is Real: Talks Gender’ will start at 7pm though it’s recommended that you get there at 6.30pm to have a chance to look at the corresponding exhibition of Steven Appleby’s work. It’s a free event but is likely to be booked out quickly.
As part of the programming for Nothing is Real, Steven Appleby’s largest exhibition to date, Space Station Sixty-Five is proud to present: ‘Nothing is Real: Talks Gender.’
A conversation that seems more timely and urgent than ever will be had in this one-night-only panel event spotlighting, and celebrating, queer and gender non-conforming artists, writers and creatives who live and work beyond the binary.
Panelists include Dr Ronx Ikharia, E-J Scott, Levi Bridgeman, MJ Barker and of course, Steven Appleby. You can find out more about each participant below.
The discussion will be chaired by TS Eliot Prize-winning poet and author Joelle Taylor, and will be followed by an informal audience Q&A.
Joelle Taylor (she/her)
Joelle Taylor is the author of 4 collections of poetry and one novel. Her most recent collection C+NTO & Othered Poems won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize, and the 2022 Polari Book Prize for LGBT authors. C+NTO is currently being adapted both for theatre, and into a television screenplay, and was featured on Radio Three documentary Butch. She is a co- curator and host of Out-Spoken Live at the Southbank Centre, a Poetry Fellow of the University of East Anglia and the curator of the Koestler Awards 2023. Taylor has judged several poetry and literary prizes including the Jerwood Fellowship, the Forward Prize, and the Ondaatje Prize. Her novel The Night Alphabet was published in Spring of 2024 and was named both a Spectator and Guardian Book of the Year. Her most recent radio programme A Young Girl’s Guide to Horror was broadcast at the end of last year on BBC Radio Four. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and the 2022 Saboteur Spoken Word Artist of the Year. She was recently honoured with a DIVA Award for Excellence and named as number 15 in the Independent’s 2024 Pride Power list. Her next collection Maryville will be published by Bloomsbury in late 2025.
Dr Ronx Ikharia (they/them)
Dr Ronx Ikharia is a non-binary emergency medicine doctor, television presenter and activist. On screen they are best known for their role as a presenter on CBBC’s Operation Ouch. They describe themself as a queer, black, intersectional feminist and self-funded their way through Medical School after leaving home in their teenage years, graduating from King’s College Medical School in 2011. Dr Ronx has hosted landmark documentaries answering questions facing the nation, such as Are Women The Fitter Sex? and The Truth About Boosting Your Immune System for BBC One, plus the highly acclaimed Channel 4 investigative documentary Is Covid Racist? as well as taking their medical expertise onto the streets in The Unshockable Dr Ronx for BBC3. They have published two books with Harper Collins as part of the Little Experts series, Amazing Bodies and How To Save a Life. Their motto is: “You cannot be, what you do not see”
E-J Scott (he/him)
E-J Scott is the Curator of the Museum of Transology and the Founding Co-Director of Trans Pride Collective UK & Ireland and recipient of the UK Activist Museum (2021, RCMG). His writing includes co-authoring the Trans-Inclusive Culture: Guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations (2023) that was the recipient of the Museums + Heritage Judges’ Special Recognition Award (2024). Forthcoming publications include A Queer Scrapbook: Britain and Ireland 1945 – today (with Justin Bengry, Matt Cook and Rebecca Jennings, MUP) and Queering Heritage (with Richard Sandell and Nicole Moolhuijsen, Routledge). He is a Senior Lecturer in BA (Hons) Culture, Criticism and Curation at Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts London).
Libro Levi Bridgeman (they/them)
Libro Levi Bridgeman is a non-binary writer, editor and lecturer working in theatre, film, prose and radio. Since 2009 they, alongside Serge Nicholson, have run Hotpencil Press, a project publishing contemporary queer narratives largely ignored by the mainstream. Titles include There is No Word for it, Letter to my Little Queer Self and most recently Letter to my little Trans Self. Libro Levi Bridgeman also is well known for writing The Butch Monologues, a contemporary collection of real-life stories exploring the female butch, trans masculine and gender rebel experience. The Butch Monologues was adapted for theatre and in collaboration with The Drakes was toured and performed on stages around the world.
MJ Barker (they/them)
Meg-John Barker (also known as MJ Barker) is a writer, writing mentor, creative consultant, speaker, and independent scholar. They have written a number of anti self-help books on the topics of relationships, sex, and gender, as well as the graphic non-fiction books, Queer: A Graphic History and Gender: A Graphic Guide, and the book The Psychology of Sex. They are the writer of the relationships book and blog Rewriting the Rules, and they have a podcast with sex educator Justin Hancock. Barker has also written and edited some of the first academic collections on open non-monogamy, bisexuality, non-binary gender and BDSM. They were editor of the journal Psychology & Sexuality from 2010 to 2017, and lead author of The Bisexuality Report and the BACP document on Gender, Sexual, and Relationship Diversity.
Steven/Nancy Appleby (any pronouns)
Steven Appleby (also sometimes known as Nancy Appleby) is an absurdist cartoonist, illustrator and artist most well known for their surreal yet personal comic strips published in the New Musical Express, The Guardian and The Times. Appleby’s work has also appeared on album covers, most notably on Trompe le Monde by the Pixies, and on television with the animated series Captain Star voiced by Richard E. Grant. Steven Appleby has written and illustrated around 30 books, the most recent one being DRAGMAN, which features August Crimp, a man who can fly when he puts on women’s clothes, a story grounded in Steven’s own experience of the secret world of cross dressers. Appleby’s latest, and largest exhibition to date, ‘Nothing is Real’ is currently showing at Space Station Sixty-Five until the 10th of May 2025, it features over 100 artworks and details 40+ years of the artist’s career.
This event is facilitated by Jo David, the Director of Space Station Sixty-Five.
Space Station Sixty-Five is a gallery operated by Space Art CIO, registered charity number 1188167.
