WATCH: Spoken word piece captures the diversity of Ireland’s queer community

Vickey Curtis' 'Ireland You Never Know' is all at once a celebration, an affirmation and a call to action.

Still taken from the spoken word piece of a woman standing on the street in Dublin.

A new short spoken word film released by Vickey Curtis called Ireland You Never Know aims to capture the diversity and beauty of Ireland’s queer community.

The piece, which was written and performed by Vickey Curtis for Glitterhole as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, is as much a celebration as it is a call for action. Shot across Dublin, and featuring a catalogue of diverse faces, Ireland You Never Know refuses to hold back when it comes to tackling the issues Ireland’s LGBT+ community continue to face.

Ireland You Never Know is a noisy and beautiful love letter to Dublin’s LGBT+ scene and begins by celebrating how far we have come as a nation, with the spoken word pointing to our most recent referenda as evidence.

Curtis proudly tells us “We’re 63% queer, we’re nearly 67% Tá. We’ve risen, we’re aroused, we’ve got the horn for the new day.”

Ireland You Never Know includes Ireland’s LGBT+ community within the fold of all things revolutionary as Curtis updates the tricolour: “The green white and gold, it’s neon orange, it’s purple under blue moons.”

Curtis celebrates an Ireland that has “nearly got it all”, but the poem reminds us that we still have a way to go.

The spoken word piece is ultimately a call for intersectionality within the community, as Curtis’ voice firmly tells the listener: “Fuck the Brits, we want TERFs out. Your shame is our pride. We gotta help all of our tribes, which there are loads. Lots done, more to do.”

Ireland You Never Know is a call to action, one that affirms that our community cannot stop now as Curtis reminds us of the need to organise.

“We need homes for the homeless, we need to help HIV, we need to stop DP. We need to legalise weed and free the nip.”

Watch Curtis’ spoken word piece here.

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