Flow.Walk.Drag. is a walking tour through Liverpool L8 and Margate, led by drag artists as microorganisms (cholera & E. coli). It is a deep dive into hidden water histories, turning sewage into spectacle and cholera into cabaret across Liverpool and Margate’s shores.
Tracing the flow of microorganisms cholera and E. coli through Liverpool and Margate’s historical waterways, our performances reveal the intricate web of human relationships with this fluid resource. From the shared use of wells and washhouses to the impact of industrial pollution on communities, the project viscerally demonstrates how water has always been a social connector, shaping the fabric of urban life.
Why water ?
Our project is built on an ecological revolution in thought that sees water as a source, not a resource, and bio-possibility: all life holds water within it; water collapses separations between the human and non-human.
Why microbes?
We are exploring other-than-human life that exists in water – microorganisms – and their intrinsic natures of being, care and kinship that include symbiosis and cooperation to live well better.
Why drag?
Drag, an art form rooted in LGBTQ+ communities, is used for its power to challenge norms and subvert oppressive structures through joyful performances.
Why Liverpool & Margate?
Two climate-vulnerable sites are linked to introduce critical reflexivity and build solidarity between communities facing similar environmental challenges. The two are post-industrial sites with high levels of socioeconomic deprivation and inequality. Politically marginalised, yet with strong local, water-based identities and cultures, both underwent significant expansion and development in the industrial revolution and are grappling in different ways with local histories connected to the transatlantic enslavement trade. At the edges of mainland Britain, the sites are connected to each other by shared seas and waterways.
This project emerges from an ongoing exploration of the intersections between microorganisms, queer perspectives, performance art and community engagement. It responds to a growing need for collective outdoor experiences that connect us with the non-human world. This project builds on themes from the Endosymbiotic Love Calendar (2021), which emphasised that human survival hinges on respecting the non-human communities we rely on.
Funded by the Ecological Citizen(s) Network+ with additional support from Liverpool Hope University.