Queer Irish artist Brian Teeling has just released a new t-shirt design paying homage to the personal ads published in past issues of GCN. Parts of the proceeds from the t-shirt sales will go to support GCN, Ireland’s free independent media.
A visual artist, Brian Teeling often explores queer sexuality in his work, engaging LGBTQ+ history, memory and archival reclamation. He has recently launched a new label, records, releasing a series of powerful designs.
In the artist’s own words, “records is about transmission minus nostalgia. It takes histories that have sat quietly in archives and turns them into something people can wear, learn from, and pass on.”
The first t-shirt released paid tribute to the INCOGNITO gay sauna, opened in Dublin in the early 1980s. Through this design, Teeling revisited the story of Fr Liam Cosgrave, a parish priest and member of the Montfort order who, in 1994, died at INCOGNITO.
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The second release is a new version of the iconic Irish Gay Rights Movement t-shirt already created by Teeling. The classic logo is juxtaposed to a vintage black wash t-shirt, with a second version featuring the logo in green on a white tee.
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Teeling’s newest release in collaboration with GCN takes one of the most distinctive personal ads from Issue 50 of the magazine, turning it into a wearable piece of history. The ad reads, “28, single, sensual, sociable, synical (SIC), southside pseudo-socialist, seeks sympa, shaven, sexy soul mates. Revealing reply in 20 words perhaps?”
Not long after it was founded in 1988, at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in the country, GCN began running personal ads. “The personals offered something bars and clubs could not. Connection at a distance, anonymous and low-risk, for people scattered across the country and further afield,” Teeling stated.
The back of this unique t-shirt shows the front cover of the 50th issue of the GCN magazine, published in April 1993. Produced in Dublin on 100% organic ring-spun cotton single jersey, the t-shirts are medium-fit with set-in sleeves.
Proceeds from the t-shirt sales go to support GCN and ensure it can continue its work as Ireland’s LGBTQ+ paper of record and a vital resource to inform, educate, platform, connect the community, and advocate for a more equal society. Get your t-shirt here.
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