DYKE HAND BOOK

The DYKE HAND BOOK is a collection of portraits of community members' hands by Tiger Salmon.

People say dykes spot each other by the carabiners on our belts. But the real signal?

Our hands.

Dyke hands are archives of labour, intimacy, and desire.

Nails are usually trimmed; fingers are expressive. Each digit is active. They touch, they gesture, they build. They feel for a pulse. They finger.

Dyke hands give and receive pleasure. If only those hands could talk.

Everyone who’s posed so far has shared a story about their hands. Each person’s hands expresses a unique aspect of queerness. Each person was given the opportunity to give their hands a voice. The results can be found within these pages. They are a true celebration of dyke beauty.

TIGER SALMON

Tiger Salmon (they/them) is a queer artist and writer from Naarm. Tiger and their partner Jasper, launched Wicked Women, Australia’s first lesbian sex-positive zine, in the late 1980s.

Tiger now hosts exhibitions and events that foster a connection to our illustrious queer history.

Their writing tracks their role as an LGBTQI+ publisher and provocateur during the third wave of women’s sexual liberation, when the pursuit of pleasure was a powerful political protest.

Current discussions about gender, feminism, identity, and queer representation inform their work. 

You can read Tiger’s weekly reflections on queer culture now and in the 1990s on substack.

WICKED WORDS

Wicked Words is a storytelling event that continues the legacy of Wicked Women by celebrating dyke and trans sexuality in all its guises. Come along to hear community trailblazers tell tales about our raucous queer heritage and gird your loins for some contemporary erotica.

Wicked Words showcases stories that centre the strength, resilience, and outrageous queer beauty of trans and dyke folx.

We are confronted by thousands of images and stories of hetero propaganda every day. Mainstream culture is drenched in it.

Surely we deserve the occasional antidote.

WICKED REBOOT

Tiger Salmon’s photographic project, Wicked Reboot, restaged archival images from Wicked Women, offering a fresh way to engage with history.

Tiger teamed up with Jamie James to restage archival images. In the Wicked Reboot exhibition, the queer essence continues through the generations offering viewers the strength to endure today’s political climate together.

Wicked Reboot treasures the original community of 90s dykes and trans folk who smashed open possibilities for pleasure. Original photos reveal how the revolution danced in our bodies. The strutting postures, with jutted-out chins and direct gaze, the humour, and the joy of punk genderfluid rebellion speak to our current need to reclaim space.