SORT curates: goths most talented
Multidisciplinary duo, Joseph Delaney and Matt King, curate the goths of the creative industry.
Culture
Words: Alexander Aplerku
Featuring: SORT
London-based writer and filmmaker Joseph Delaney and stylist-cum-creative director Matt King are purveyors of all things goth. Known for their their multidisciplinary output, their SORT collective centres around a limited-run print zine that brings together an exploration of subcultures, with the crossover of queer, noise, industrial and techno communities around the world. Following World Goth Day yesterday, the duo’s SORT print fair is set to take over East London this Saturday (located at SET on Dalston Lane) for a day of books, prints, zines, clothing, music and tattoos, with six artists – Ingrid Kraftschenko, Anna Sampson, Clare Frances, Begum Yetis, INFERNO and Lou Alsop as well as Delaney and King, showcasing their work while establishing what goth means to them.
So what does ‘goth’ mean in 2019? As tattooist and one of six artists included, Clare Frances, mentioned “to me, goth is a sense of otherness, being an outsider and being proud of it”, adding, “It’s not about clothes or music anymore, those dividing lines seem increasingly irrelevant in 2019”. Forget floor-length leather trench coats, New Rock stomping boots, and birds nest hair a la Siouxsie Sioux, these days ‘goth’ more a state-of-mind than ever before. Ahead of the event, we speak to the creatives about their communities, and what goth means to them.
ANNA SAMPSON, PHOTOGRAPHER
What do you do?
I’m an artist and activist, advocating for feminist, sex-positive and queer rights. My work has always been influenced and driven by the frustration that we, as “the Other”, have been subjected to. Essentially, I strive to challenge, and provoke; to educate, and to inspire. I do this by blurring gendered ideals and stereotypes, looking to end sexist oppression and unequal exploitation.
How would you describe your community?
I use my photography to represent and celebrate my community. It is so precious and continually inspiring to me. I dread to think of how life could be otherwise. It doesn’t extend much further at present, yet I can appreciate that it’s because I have a massive problem with the societal politics in this godforsaken country. I hope that things change and we can live in a world without such aggression and hostility to diversity and intersectionality.
What songs are you adding to the SORT playlist?
Anything by Fad Gadget or Malaria! will do. Or Grace Jones and Madonna…
What does ‘goth’ mean to you in 2019?
Resilience. Style AND substance.
INGRID KRAFTCHENKO, DESIGNER
What do you do?
My work is a subversive utilitarian uniform exploring androgynous tailoring and focuses on the body as a site of social and political contestation, and subverting social conventions.
This photo series uses the t‑shirt as a blank canvas for overt political messages and shows how clothing can be used as a tool – a ‘second skin’ to incite social change. I shot it myself in Homerton Hospital, and it comments on the anonymity of female patients in the ward and the fragility of our bodies in the physical constraints around us. It’s a reaction to our political isolation, a muted depiction of a collective female sensibility to an oppressive communicative impairment we currently find ourselves confined in. Radical documentation for the resistance against Theresa May’s funding cuts to the NHS causing unprecedented pain, and this repression and austerity as the precursor to our mental health epidemic. An autobiographical account of bordering on the edge and the current torment of being a young under funded fashion designer in London today.
How would you describe your community?
It’s a unique fresh subculture movement, heavily influenced by the techno music we listen to with a strong sense of community, which largely forms the inspiration for my work. Our rage is always my starting point.
What songs are you adding to the SORT playlist?
LN-CC STORE MIX 076 – GOOD MORNING TAPES and Boy Harsher’s Come Closer.
What does ‘goth’ mean to you in 2019?
For me, goth means more of a dark, subversive avant-garde aesthetic in our underground identity, and a reaction to the austerity around us.
CLARE FRANCES, TATTOOIST
What do you do?
I’m a tattooer at Old Habits in East London. While tattooing is my main output, I enjoy seeing how far I can push myself through other mediums such as paper and textiles which, in turn, inspire my tattooing.
How would you describe your community?
I view the world around me as a constant source of inspiration and challenge. London can be quite a jarring place but, rising up from that, are people and communities pushing the limits and keeping things real. I’m lucky enough to work alongside people I looked up to when I was starting out, as well as others coming up behind, biting at my heels, and making sure I stay on top of my game.
What song are you adding to the SORT playlist?
What does ‘goth’ mean to you in 2019?
To me, goth is a sense of otherness, being an outsider and being proud of it. It’s not about clothes or music anymore, those dividing lines seem increasingly irrelevant in 2019 where culture is intersecting like never before. I may not look like a Goth but I certainly embody the spirit of it.
Bare With Me. Photographed by Begum Yetis, art directed by Omer Agustoslu
BEGUM YETIS, PHOTOGRAPHER
Presenting new zine Bare With Me, art directed by Omer Agustoslu.
What do you do?
My projects develop around the representations of identity and sexuality and I use the medium of photography as a way of observing and understanding human nature. My most recent work, Bare With Me (a photography exhibition collaborated with Matt King), consisted of images that explore the state of undress with an emphasis on contemporary concepts of erotica we define today. The series is mainly inspired by a community of people I met here in London.
How would you describe your community?
I think they are fearless with their self-expression and sexuality! It is a group of people who support each other and creatively grow together. There is a constant change in the world surrounding us at the moment that we as creatives need to keep up with. I believe this community has great potential for the future and I am glad to be a part of it.
What song are you adding to the SORT playlist?
Karanlık ve Soguk by The Raws.
What does ‘goth’ mean to you in 2019?
All subcultures arise to form another point of view to mainstream politics, in search of their own voice and hoping to create an outlet for their expressions. It is being honest to yourself and being honest towards others – simply fitting into a crowd that still feels different.
INFERNO, CLUB
What are you?
We are INFERNO; a queer techno rave that champions trans, non-binary and female DJs as well as a platform for emerging and established performance artists. Alongside this, we hosted the first INFERNO Summit last year which was a two-day seminar exploring the intersections of nightlife, performance art, music and queerness as well as creating the INFERNO zine (which we will be selling at the SORT print fair, amongst other things).
How would you describe your community?
It’s one of those things you need to experience yourself in the flesh – we’re not for everyone.
What song are you adding to the SORT playlist?
Ash B.’s Realness (Manni Dee edit).
What does ‘goth’ mean to you in 2019?
There’s this wonderful little film made my SORT called Techno Goth last year that INFERNO co-founder Lewis G. Burton (as well as some of the community’s DJs, performers and regulars) got the chance to feature in. This is the 2019 manifestation of goth.
LOU ALSOP, ART DIRECTOR AND PRINT DESIGNER
What do you do?
I am an art director and print designer. I studied fashion design and used to have a womenswear label, although today I’m not so comfortable defining what I do as the work I produce is constantly evolving.
How would you describe your community?
I view this world as a safe space; somewhere I can be myself and experience that with others.
What song are you adding to the SORT playlist?
What does ‘goth’ mean to you in 2019?
Still being an outsider in a time when subcultures no longer exist.
