Prem Sahib’s First and Last

Prem Sahib is known for ambitious and deftly fabricated work that merges minimalist aesthetics with research surrounding autobiographical, collective and queer histories. Previously, they have transformed museum spaces into locker rooms, galleries into gay cruising clubs, and bathed Soho’s Grape Street in urine-yellow light.

It’s been a busy month for Sahib. They launched a major book titled That Fire Over There that uses fire as a ‘metaphor for ideas around queer attachment, proximity, and personal and collective transformation’. They also just opened ‘The Life Cycle of a Flea’, an exhibition of new sculpture, installation, painting and sound at Reid’s gallery space in Bloomsbury. One of Plaster’s top picks to see during Frieze Week, the show utilises the flea as a symbol to consider  ‘growth, extraction, contamination and existence within systems of control.’

First: Princess Julia with a bottle of poppers at Anal House Meltdown

According to my phone, the first pic in my camera roll dates back to 1st January 1904 – lol. I remember this photo pretty well though and it was more like c.2014. It was originally shot on the disposable cameras we used to use to document our parties back then. It’s a photo of Princess Julia with a bottle of poppers at Anal House Meltdown – the club night I co-run with George Henry Longly and Eddie Peake. On 14 October we’ll be celebrating our 12th birthday at The Glove That Fits with sets by Haroon Mirza, Sonikku, Ali Mono, Proscenium and AHMD.

Last: Met Police keys, lost in the woods

The last picture in my camera roll was taken by my friend Joseph Shone Hatchwell when we were out collecting leaves for my show at Phillida Reid. The leaves will form part of a work called ‘Loose Change’, alongside LED strips that are inserted into the gallery floor. At the time, we were in different parts of the woods close to where I live, which also happened to be a cruising ground. Joseph found a set of keys that belonged to the Metropolitan Police hanging in the bushes. He sent me the pic by text to see if I wanted them, but we decided to leave them there.