The book about queer cruising culture

Why is it important to archive these items?

They preserve a history that is very often overlooked. Cruising can be dismissed in queer history and politics because the communities and places around it can be obscured. In the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis, cruising was demonised by those in power as a sign of promiscuity and a major cause of rising transmission rates. What is often not taken into account is the fact that many cruising users were the first to adopt new forms of safer sex because they recognised the higher risk of infection they were exposing themselves to. In my home country of Ireland, the murder of Declan Flynn in a cruising area in 1982 was the catalyst for a wider LGBT political movement to enter the public consciousness. In 2015, Ireland voted for a constitutional amendment allowing same-sex couples to marry. It is interesting to think that this development was brought about by cruising.

What do you do with the objects after you have photographed them?

All the objects were separated into different boxes based on when they were found and where they were found, and then placed into a larger box. I’ve kept all the objects from the project. The next step is to figure out what to do with them. I had to encase some objects in resin, but once they’re sealed, it feels pretty definitive.

What is the relationship between the Archaeology cruise Book versus Instagram page?

I find the relationship a little complicated because I’m not sure I’ve fully figured it out yet. I think, for one thing, the Instagram page is much broader in terms of the breadth of objects – due to printing costs, we’ve had to make a lot of decisions about which objects to include and which to leave out, and those decisions obviously affect how each area is represented.

The book as a fixed piece of material may not have the live interaction or engagement that the Instagram account has, but the format of a printed publication allowed me to explore written elements to accompany the images. In some ways, the book and the Instagram account continue to complement each other and I see both as equal parts of the project.

Why did you publish this edition in pocket format?

We decided to make a slightly smaller book so that people could carry it more easily. The idea is that the images in the book serve as a sort of directory or field guide in a cruising area. The silhouette of the underwear and the text on the book cover were printed using spot UV printing. The text and silhouette are only visible when you look closely at the book or from a certain angle, which evokes those qualities of visibility and concealment when cruising. The exterior of the book is inviting because of its mystery and is a direct reference to the euphemism of the little black book.