Martin Firrell
Going to the Ranch
2016
Going To The Ranch is US LGBT+ slang for going crazy. The phrase may derive originally from the US Love in Action Refuge Program which ran from 1973 - 2007. The program's so-called 'gay cure centres' were often housed in American ranch style properties, hence the term.

This work is part of Hunty City, a video artwork exploring the two main linguistic traditions of Polari (UK) and American drag slang from the New York City Balls of the 1970s and 80s.

Polari is the great language of oppression: a coded language to enable LGBT+ people to express themselves whilst avoiding detection as both demonised and criminalised homosexuals.

The drag slang of the New York City Ball scene can be regarded as a language of freer expression and reclamation. African and hispanic Americans created the Ball Scene and its attendant language to allow themselves free expression beyond mainstream white drag culture.
Part Of
Hunty City
Medium
High definition colour video 07:37
Displayed
Shoreditch Town Hall, London UK
1 to 12 March 2016
Supported by
Shoreditch Town Hall
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