LB) Your practice often engages with memory, material culture, and cultural identity. How are you thinking about translating these interests to respond to Section 28’s legacy?

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YFL) I was 16 years old when the march happened in 1988. It was a big deal, and there was a buzz about it. But I was painfully shy and closeted teenager, and too scared to take part. I was learning about gay culture covertly, through music, books and magazines in Eccles library, films and art exhibitions at Cornerhouse and Manchester Art Gallery, these were my safe spaces, and they provided the backbone of my queer education. Translating the Section 28 archives, now, is like reconnecting my teenage self, knowing the importance of how these documents helped shape my future, and making the work I wished I had the courage to make then. Reclaiming the past is a powerful motivator, in later life, its about confronting trauma, healing and resolution, and setting yourself free.  

 

LB) Many of your works explore migration and displacement. Are there connections you see between these themes and histories of queer activism or protest?

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YFL) My parents came to the UK from Hong Kong in the 1960s and moved around the north, between Leeds to Manchester. They were wide-eyed and optimistic, and had hopes for a better life, better careers and futures for their children. But 1970s and 80s Manchester was a difficult place... I remember the NF logos (National Front) spraypainted on walls of neighbouring streets, as we lived in a large Muslim area of Eccles. I remember my mum being refused to be served in Parker Bradburn's bakery on the precinct, she was livid! The name calling was a daily occurrence... or "Go back to your own country", you learnt to ignore it, and rise above it. Oppression is oppression and it needs to be called out. The intersections of being Chinese and gay, are very real... even being racially abused and excluded in the gay village happened often... when the oppressed become the oppressor... that's dark! All marginalised peoples need to stick together, share in each other experiences, that's the connection. 

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LB) How are you balancing your own artistic practice with the historical and political context of the project?

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YFL) I wish I could live for the future, play in the unknown, but I'm currently locked into the past. However, I like to think histories are made in the present. Looking back through the archives, are how we map out the present and the future. My art practice is the same... I guess my 'present self' is reckoning with the traumas of my past, and shaping the life of my future. Taking part in this project, I'm feeling the effects, again, of Section 28 having happened to me. It's not a subject comfortably over there, I'm bringing it close, and considering its uncomfortable impact. I want to thank the people who made and collected all the audio interviews, newspaper clippings, posters, flyers, letters, minutes, badges, t-shirts, banners etc. They have given us our material past, they enable us to point to the problem, ask more questions, create a solution, without it, we'd be on a treadmill to nowhere. Learning from the past is one method for a collective movement forward. 

 

LB) If you could write a short letter to the LGBTQ+ youth in the era of Section 28, what would it say? 

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YFL) Dear Yuen (in 1988, aged 16), Welcome to Hell! A hell of someone else's making! Never forget that you belong here. Despite feeling like you don't fit in. Being yourself might seem like taking a massive risk, but its a risk worth taking. As there's a big gay family waiting to embrace you. It's OK to just be! Your worth doesn't solely rest on what you do, and how well you do it. And remember, when it comes to art, there are no rules, so give yourself the positivity and encouragement to strive and realise your full potential. Love you lots... From Yuen (aged 52, in 2025). 

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