After Tsarouchis - Military Police arresting Eros. Briony Galligan and Mel Deerson. 2022.

Image description: A multicoloured, energetic pencil drawing of two figures; one is a naked fairy and one is a military policeman. The policeman ties the fairy’s hands behind their back with string while the fairy turns away; around them a swirling atmosphere, buried under the policeman’s feet a skull and some bones. The drawing is a loose copy of an artwork of the same name by queer Modernist artist Yannis Tsarouchis.

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mel deerson and spiros panigirakis (EDs.)
fairy: an experiment in queer art pedagogy

Softcover, 210 x 297 mm, 160pp, laser print
First edition of 100
Design by Jacob Pham
Published by 3-ply, 2024
ISBN 978-0-9873555-4-6
RRP AUD 28.00 + GST


Created by Mel Deerson and Spiros Panigirakis, two Naarm-based artists who are also university fine art teachers, fairy is a creative and pedagogical experiment, where the politics of queer visibility, queer histories and communities are played out through the slippery figure of the fairy. fairy is envisioned as an old-fashioned ‘reader’ - a DIY collection of photocopied educational material, designed to be shareable, cheap and useful. Blurring the line between institutional and community knowledge, and between spaces of learning and spaces of display, the publication gathers material from exhibitions, events, workshops and texts that respond to the double meaning of ‘fairy’ as an ephemeral spirit and a semi-derogatory term for a gay man. 

fairy includes: an essay by Mel Deerson & Spiros Panigirakis; research into queer and fairy-ish Australian art histories by Melissa Ratliff, Jeremy Eaton and Mathew Jones; a text ‘Hidden beings’ by Manisha Anjali that emerged from a fairy poetry workshop; teaching materials from a ‘Radical queer architectures’ university subject taught by Luca Lana; and documentation of classes, artworks and public events, including a fairy collage workshop by Peter Waples-Crowe, a performance by Ari Angkasa, and paintings, drawings, and sculptural installations by Martin Boyd, Mel Deerson and Briony Galligan, Jeremy Eaton, Mathew Jones, Danni McGrath, and Spiros Panigirakis.


fairy: an experiment in queer art pedagogy will be launched through a series of events.

  • The first launch celebration will be at Sydenham International, Marrickville, Gadigal-Sydney, Saturday 5 October, 3-5pm. We invite you to an informal discussion about the publication with editors/contributors Spiros Panigirakis, Mel Deerson and Melissa Ratliff. 

  • The second launch celebration will be at the Australian Queer Archives, Pride Centre, St. Kilda, Naarm-Melbourne, Saturday 12 October, 2:30-4pm. We invite you to an informal discussion about the publication with editors/contributors Spiros Panigirakis, Mel Deerson and contributing artists.

  • Co-editor Mel Deerson and contributor Manisha Anjali will present a program Desiring spirits and medieval women's mystic texts at the Same Page book fair at Gertrude Contemporary, Sunday 20 October, 1:30-2:30pm. (Note date and time change from original programming.)


EDITORS NOTES