Liz Johnson Artur: PDA

hardback
110 s/w and 97 colour images
23,5 x 26 cm
224 pages

ISBN 978-3-948546-12-0

Project coordination: Alx Dabo
Design: Mario Horne

This new publication is a timely glimpse into the spaces around which the London club night PDA was created. Documenting the community it birthed, this book captures the spirit and strength of various interwoven stories in the nuanced sensitive narrative that is Johnson Artur’s photography. 

Since its inception, PDA, established by Mischa Mafia, Ms. Carrie Stacks, Akinola Davies Jr and Siobhan Bell, prepared London’s underground for a new wave of experimental Black and Brown queer club culture. Offering a space where joy, care, and self-expression could flourish, the Hackney-based function built a platform where raw talent could be celebrated. 

Combining the glamour and the spirit of chaos that would ensue on any given night, PDA offered a world away from systems upheld in UK’s patriarchal imperialism. At the function, liberation was not contained, as same day fashioned opulent wears, high-heels, and hair, were paraded to a soundtrack of experimental genre bending  audio. A stairway for their wildest ideas.

PDA lives on as the principal reference point for many and catalyst that continues to maintain long-lasting connections. Johnson Artur’s images – all shot in analogue – observe shared camaraderie, intimacy, anticipation of the night to come, as well as games people play to prolong its end.