The Huxleys to host first WA retrospective at Fremantle Arts Centre for WA Pride

Picture this: a Subaru Forester driving across the Nullarbor, containing two men, two English staffies and 16 other-worldly costumes. The stereo is blasting ABBA. The vibe is glitter, sequins and all things that sparkle. Compared to the typical Nullarbor-crossing convoys of tourist caravans and adventuring four-wheel drivers, it’s quite the head-turner. But turning heads is exactly what Will and Garrett Huxley do for a living — so it’s just another day. The partners in life and art have made a career from standing out and raising eyebrows with their always striking, sometimes provocative, performance and visual art and unapologetically queer aesthetic. The east coast has turned out in droves to see their extravagant and culturally-insightful shows, exhibitions and visuals for the past 10 years. Now it’s WA’s turn, as the duo arrive in Perth for the Art Gallery of Western Australia’s Art Ball and their first solo retrospective exhibition in WA at Fremantle Arts Centre for the WA Pride Festival. “We both grew up being quite shy and introverted. It was costumes, masks and wigs that allowed (us) the confidence to be something else, other than ourselves, often extraordinary characters,” Garrett tells STM, as Will nods in agreement, during a video call from their jam-packed Melbourne studio, brimming with sequinned fabric and rogue mannequins. The kaleidoscopic Fremantle Arts Centre exhibition entitled Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams is a look back at their androgynous, extravagant work over the past decade. There will be 58 works on display of mediums including photography, film, craft, costume and performance art, between November 9 and January 27. “The world can be a dark (place) and at the moment, times are really heavy,” Garrett, a Gumbaynggirr/Yorta Yorta man, says. “This show is about the idea of creating a magical escape to wrap your troubles in dreams. Growing up, both of us struggled with our environments and our sexuality, (but) it was dreams, creativity and art that saved us and made us dream of a world that was magical, where we did fit in.” “The whole show is designed as a way for people to see that joy, beauty and queer bodies, but also the idea that you can create whatever you want to in the world. You don’t have to accept the world around you — you can dream outside of it.” It’s a bittersweet moment for Perth-raised Will, who grew up here in the 1980s and 90s feeling like an outsider. However, he admits the return feels “healing” after all this time and is the “perfect homecoming to make peace with the past and celebrate the future”. Both Will and Garrett started their careers studying photography, but on opposite sides of the country; Will at Edith Cowan University and Garrett at Queensland College of the Arts. After eight years of being together as a couple, they began working together as artists, with a mission to provide a platform to represent the queer community. Over the past decade, the duo has performed their art, which they describe as “a visual assault of sparkle, surrealism and the absurd”, nationally and internationally, including in London, Berlin, Moscow and Hong Kong, as well as Hobart’s prestigious annual festival, Dark Mofo. On a US trip, The Huxleys recently spent time in New York City for an artist residency at The Chocolate Factory Theatre in Queens, soaking up every ounce of the vibrant arts and culture scene, and returned to Australia feeling artistically “re-energised”. During this interview, Will and Garrett repeatedly emphasise how important representation is for the LGBTQIA+ community — and why it’s so important for them to loudly and proudly celebrate their queer story and queer love. “We did a talk at Sydney World Pride with William Yang, the photographer, and he said to us ‘All we really want as queer people is our stories to be told, because for thousands of years, we didn’t have a voice and that history was eliminated’,” Garrett says. “Growing up (during) the time we did, being gay was not talked about at school. There was no representation, and that’s why we struggled so much, because we didn’t see ourselves represented in the world around us, except in art. “Queer artists like Robert Mapplethorpe or Keith Haring are so important to us because it gives you hope that you’re going to be OK, or that you might be able to succeed in this world. Representation is vital, and art is so good at it. Art can diffuse people, especially if it’s funny or joyful, because it breaks boundaries.” Another aspect of their representative mission is for First Nations people, with Garrett’s Indigenous heritage. The Huxleys were preparing to perform in Brisbane last year when the Voice to Parliament referendum took place; as they sat backstage dressed as giant fluffy crabs, they felt devastated by the result and debated pulling the plug on the show. “(I felt like) I can’t go out. I don’t have that joy, because the world doesn’t feel joyful today,” Garrett says of his thoughts in that moment. But a friend emphasised why it was important for them to go on: that the world needed joy more than ever at that time. She had a point. “That’s the artist’s job a lot of the time, to provide an alternative to dark realities. Musicians have done that during war times. And I think sometimes, when society is at its worst, artists have to work the hardest,” Will says. Will and Garrett experience the fruits of their labour firsthand when youngsters occasionally thank them for what they do for the LGBTQIA+ community — a full circle moment for two boys-turned-men who yearned to experience that in their formative years. And when it comes to advice for the younger queer generation, Garrett quotes English fashion designer and musician Malcolm McLaren: “better a spectacular failure, than a benign success”. “We’ve lived by that rule. We don’t fear rejection or failure, because we had so many people saying no to us when we were trying to show our work originally,” he says. “Andy Warhol also said ‘don’t wait around for someone to say whether they love it or hate it. Just keep doing it and by the time they’ve decided, you’ll have a whole body of work’.” And even while they work, coming up with concepts, executing costumes, travelling and performing, make no mistake — Will and Garrett are still dreaming of a world where things are just a little more sparkly. The Huxleys: Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams is on at Fremantle Arts Centre November 9-January 27. Tickets to their special performance on November 22 can be purchased here. The duo will also appear at AGWA’s Art Ball X PrideFest event on November 9, tickets out now.

The Huxleys to host first WA retrospective at Fremantle Arts Centre for WA Pride

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