DYKE TALES
IT STARTED WITH A STORY
by Siobhan Fahey
Follow the images, and follow the links beyond. Go down internet wormholes, and find out about your queer past.
I started the whole Rebel Dykes thing as an DIY oral history project event I set up for November 21st 2014.
The first story I collected was from Karen Fisch. We sat in the window of that posh part of the BFI cafe, where it is all white linen and champagne flutes. Her stories startled me. I had known Fisch for years but never heard her stories. They made me dream, remember but also see them come alive again. And they have. From the many stories I collected on that first day, much art has grown.
​
I learnt the power of stories from oral history.
Collecting Oral History is easy and important, so go and collect it! Join Oral History Society LGBTQ Group. Stories are the raw material of art. Make sure that your oral history recordings go to an archive.
​
If you want to hear more of the Rebel Dykes Stories, they will be going to Bishopsgate Archive later this year. Get to know your archives! Bishopgate is particularly welcoming and has a wealth of rare queer archive for you to examine and be inspired by.
Like all art I make, this is collaboration. I can't make art without a community.
The anonymised storytellers are Rebel Dykes, the interviews were recorded by our team of sound recordists: Whitney Bluzma, Harri Shanahan, Michael-Jon Mizra, Mat Sutcliffe, Matty Simpson.
The images on this page are by Hannah Mclennan-Jones, and the music intros to the stories are by Ellyott. Marco Calzone cleaned the tracks for me and taught me new software.
The audio editing is all mine.
​