OUT & ABOUT WITH LINDEN: A Queer Archive of the North — Stuart Linden Rhodes

2nd edition of isbn: 97981399914826 — first published by Joe Ingham in April 2022
 
Synopsis:
 
OUT & ABOUT WITH LINDEN: A Queer Archive of the North is a selected archival work capturing the 1990s LGBTQ+ club and pub scene across the north of England, from Birmingham to Newcastle. Celebratory in tone, it encapsulates a peoples defiant in the face of the AIDS crises and discriminatory laws. Featuring a foreword by Harry Clayton-Wright, with contributions from Boy George, Paul O'Grady, Julian Clary, Su Pollard, Heather Small, Mel B and more.
 
'Linden' was the roving reporter for APN and the Gay Times during the early to mid 1990s, his columns for those magazines were entitled: Out & About with Linden. Stuart Linden Rhodes was also a lecturer at a local further education college, the pseudonym 'Linden' adopted due to concerns generated by draconian Clause 28 legislation sanctioned by Tory governments of the era. At home in North Yorkshire during the 'rona lockdowns of 2020-21, Stuart established the Linden Archive online as a way to preserve his work and look back fondly on the brash, thriving gay scene of the 1990s.

More recently, his photography has featured on BBC television & radio and in Mastermind Magazine, Crotch, The Guardian, You Otter Know and Photography – A Queer History. Imagery from the archives have been exhibited at the Grundy Art Gallery, Queer Britain, Moray Pride, Vane Gallery, New Briggate, Leeds and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum as part of the Museum of Youth Culture. In November 2024, three of Stuart's pieces were added to Manchester Art Gallery's permenant collection.
 
 
Praise for Out & About with Linden:
 
"Thirty years ago, gay nightlife in the north of England finally began to rival that of the south. Out & About with Linden is a unique record of gay clubbing at a time that has since become the stuff of legend."
     David McGillivray for Attitude Magazine
 
"The body of work depicts an abundance of unmitigated queer joy. But it was set against a backdrop of both heartache and suffering caused by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and a militant era of political oppression."
     DJ Mag
 
"A euphoric deep dive into a thriving queer night life. Naturally, in an era that has imperilled queer night life, Rhodes’ photography takes on a greater resonance, the clarity of his images capturing a candid, uninhibited joy that feels increasingly distant."
     Huck Magazine

"Stuart Linden Rhodes' pictures are testaments of a golden era of gay clubbing. His images highlight the joy of queerness in many different guises, even when the AIDS crisis had cast such a dark shadow over the lives of so many."
     i-D
 
"Stuart Linden Rhodes has been resurrecting the LGBTQ+ nightlife scene of the decade, one IG picture at a time."
     Vice
 
"Out & About with Linden is a rare glimpse into the hedonistic energy of the gay, northern party scene in the 1990s. Whether you're a member of the LGBTQ+ community or an admirer British documentary photography, this book is a must-see."
     Village Books
 
"A luminous archive of queer life. Rhodes brings together glorious scenes from a fascinating chapter in LGBTQ+ history, when everyone came together in celebration of the community. As these photographs reveal, there is nothing quite so affirming as the freedom of youth and the determination to create your own world. Liberation isn’t just protest—it is the celebration of life, of being true to yourself and making space for others to do the same."
     AnOther
 
"The scene Stuart shot was diverse and vibrant populated by people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and creeds. It is a scene that was uniquely of its time and has since vanished, much like Stuart’s photographs which weren’t seen for nearly thirty years."
     QueerGuru
 
"All of these stories, though never forgotten by the LGBT+ community, remain unseen in mainstream media. Stuart's book aims to change that and give a glimpse into the life of queer northerners in the 1990s."
     Liverpool Echo
 
"Stuart was able to help many people relive their bad outfits and questionable hairstyles, and also give loved ones new photographs of people who have since passed away."
     Derby Telegraph
 
"The Linden Archive features hundreds of posed and candid shots from a time and place in lesbian and gay history that, without it, would be unseen today."
      Lesbian Herstory
 
"Stuart Linden Rhodes was a teacher in the ’90s. By night he accidentally became a chronicler of England’s gay nightlife. Stuart’s photos anticipate the rise of social media—no night out is ephemeral these days, but in the ’90s they were—unless someone like Stuart was there recording."
      Scene Magazine
 
Stuart Linden Rhodes is no novice with a camera or a man in spandex. Out & About with Linden is a photographic documentation of the north of England’s diverse LGBTQ+ history.
      LGUK Magazine

"Gay nightlife in the '90s, through the eyes of the photographer who saw it all."
     Manchester Evening News
 
"Thank God for Stuart Linden Rhodes."
      Harry Clayton-Wright