The Messy Truth x Peckham 24: Amelia Abraham and Bernice Mulenga

Gem Fletcher speaks with artist Bernice Mulenga and author Amelia Abraham about the ways in which photography intersects with pleasure, politics, and protest in Queer nightlife. The talk will explore the connections between #friendsonfilm, Bernice’s ten year project documenting the people who shape contemporary LGBTQ+ BIPOC dancefloors and Amelia’s latest book Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife which charts an expansive visual history of queer nightlife. Together they will discuss the ways in which Queer artists, past and present, have been informed by the dancefloor and used it to dream new modes of being into existence.

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Amelia Abraham is a journalist and author from London. She writes for Art Review, The Guardian, The Observer, Dazed, AnOther, and other titles on arts, culture and more. Her books include Queer Intentions: A (Personal) Journey Through LGBTQ+ Culture and We Can Do Better Than This: 35 Voices on the Future of LGBTQ+ Rights. Her first edited photography book, Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife, was published in May 2026 by MACK Books. 

Bernice Mulenga is a British-Congolese artist and photographer based in London. Mulenga’s practice seeks to archive, document and interrogate the world around them, primarily focusing on themselves, Black queer global and local communities, and the experiences found within them. Their work centres on bonds, kinship and the search for intimacy. This is exemplified in their ongoing photo series #friendsonfilm, a living archive that has been growing since 2015 and continues to evolve with time.

Gem Fletcher is a writer, cultural programmer and podcaster whose work explores photography, art and contemporary culture and how they shape and inform who we are and how we live. Her work has been published in Foam, Aperture, Dazed, It’s Nice That, Creative Review, 1000 Words and The British Journal of Photography. She also hosts The Messy Truth podcast, a series of candid conversations that unpack the future of visual culture and what it means to be a photographer today. Now in its tenth season, Gem explores reflections on criticism, starting out, mental health, politics and success with guests like Antwuan Sargent, Catherine Opie, Farah Al Qasimi, Carmen Winant and many more. 

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Image credits: 
Thumbnail: Bernice Mulenga, Priince & Majeesty, 2021, from Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising
Queer Nightlife by Amelia Abraham (MACK, 2026). Courtesy of the artist and MACK.
Banner: Linda Simpson, Linda Simpson, Gillian, Honey Dijon,and Candis Cayne at Wigstock at
the Palladium, 1995, from Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife by Amelia
Abraham (MACK, 2026). Courtesy of the artist and MACK.