As Betty Grumble, performance artist Emma Maye Gibson has been described as a “sex clown”, an obscene beauty queen and a pioneer of the “showgirl poo”. Basically, she is a queer fever dream and/or Andrew Bolt’s nightmare. Her work is lurid, brash and surges through you like a glitter-bomb to the vein, so it makes perfect sense that she’s hosting – as the name implies – a 24-hour WorldPride dance party at Carriageworks which promises everything from meditative transcendence to 80s aerobics.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander drag queens will be fighting for the supreme title in Miss First Nation, an annual drag event whose alumni include the Drag Race Down Under contestant Jojo Zaho, winner of the competition in 2017. There’ll be two days of heats, before one rowdy final. It’s all happening as part of Sydney WorldPride’s Marri Madung Butbut – a takeover of Carriageworks featuring First Nations work and discounted tickets for mob.
Melbourne artist Paul Yore caught the attention of Sydney art viewers almost a decade ago when, aged 26, he was among the 14 early-career artists selected for the MCA’s annual Primavera show. Since then, his trademark work – meticulously made, wildly colourful and provocative – has only become, well, even more so.
Launched in 1965 in Animals Magazine , the Wildlife Photographer of the Year is now one of the biggest photographic competitions in the world. This year’s exhibition of 100 images has been distilled from more than 50,000 entries by professional and amateur photographers and it comes to Sydney directly from its premiere showing in London’s Natural History Museum.