Everyone is fabulous on the planet Atlantica. It’s a whole world of bold fashion, unapologetic bodies and joyful pride.
It’s American artist April Bey’s planet, and at Simon Lee Gallery we all get to live on it for a little while. The walls are lined with pink fur and green satin, draped with images of plants that are half-banana, half-perfectly manicured Black hand. Peering out at you are the citizens of Atlantica, presented in glittery, collaged photos, like portraits of the campest dictators ever. Bey is glorying in queer aesthetic, eclebrating Black bodies. Her planet;’s citizens wear sparkling earrings long perfect nails, floral patterns and pink berets. Atlantica is a place where you can be whatever you want, where difference is a badge of pride, where no one is marginalised for their body or their skin.
I don’t like the overall aesthetic, but the ideas are a lot of fun. The story goes that as a four year old, Bey asked her father why she was being treated differently for the colour of her skin. He said that it’s because they were aliens from outer space. This is continuation of that childhood legend: it’s science fiction as resistance, it’s utopian ideals as an escape from injustice, it’s difference as positivity, as rebellion, and it really makes you wish Earth could be this fabulous.
