Pink and Green Bans with Sam Wallman

Pink and Green Bans with Sam Wallman. Image: Sam Wallman.

Join comics-journalist and cartoonist Sam Wallman as he presents a lecture on his 2023 Creative Arts Fellowship research into the Pink and Green Bans movement and how it will contribute to a new artwork celebrating the 1970s coalition of blue collar union workers and LGBTIQA+ people.

Entry is free to this event but bookings are essential.

The talk will be available to view live online via the Library’s Facebook and YouTube pages. You do not need to book a ticket to watch the event online.

Sam Wallman is a 2023 Creative Arts Fellow, Supported by the Friends of the National Library.

About Sam Wallman’s Fellowship research

During his Fellowship, Sam has drawn upon the Library’s unique collections to continue his research into the Green Bans (strike action conducted for conservational or environmental purposes), and also attempt to uncover more information about the Pink Bans, of which less is known. The Pink Bans were a series of work stoppages and industrial bans carried out by unionised construction workers in the 1970s in defence of persecuted LGBTIQA+ people (before the emergence of the gay rights movement).

This research will be distilled into a series of large format original illustrations and a large-scale banner produced in the highly ornate style of trade union banners of the 1900s. The illustrations will form accessible summaries of the history of these movements, built around specific items uncovered in the Library’s collections, and offer an entry point into this history. This ‘Pink and Green Ban’ art project will tour union halls, galleries and a labour history conference, and be a celebration of the supposedly unlikely coalition of blue-collar workers and queer people.

The details

What: Pink and Green Bans with Sam Wallman
When: Thursday, 30 November 2023 from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Where: National Library of Australia | Online
Cost: Entry is free to this event but bookings are essential.