C. Moore Hardy provides an overview of their career as an artist and photographer who has documented Sydney’s LGBTIQ history over more than four decades. C. Moore reflects on their childhood, family life, their heritage which includes Lebanese and Scottish-Irish background, and the development of their career as a photographer. They explore their education as an artist, their motivations and the political framework guiding much of their work. They discuss taking the cover photograph used on the very first edition of the Star Observer newspaper in 1979.
C. Moore reflects on mental health and well-being and the growth of a visible gay scene and activist movement in Sydney. They discuss intersectionality amongst marginalized communities and the movement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights. They reflect on changes in the LGBTIQ community and in socializing and venues and women’s venues. C. Moore discusses the Referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, which was to be held in the month following the interview, and their activism in this space.
C. Moore also discusses their work as an artist more broadly, their career as a registered nurse, challenges of being an artist, volunteerism and the substantial body of their work which is held by the City of Sydney. They reflect on changes the LGBTIQ community has experienced over time and how they would like to be remembered.
My concept of taking photos is not to overpower a person or to take something from them or to be lured in many ways, like some men and other people have done. It is about creating something that says something about that moment in time because it’s never repeated. Even this moment is not going to be repeated. And I see that as being the essence of some of the things that I have done.
