ACON Presents: Stories from the Underworld: A journey through queer and trans histories for International Overdose Awareness Day

ACON Harm reduction presents: A powerful evening of storytelling and performances featuring queer and trans people sharing their experiences and tales from the "Underworld"; from the club scenes of decades past, to the current realities of drug use in a stigmatising world, these stories shed light on the resilience, community care and creativity that keep us alive and well.

This event, honours LGBTQ+ communities, and people who use drugs, especially those on whose shoulders we stand, that have paved the way in the ongoing struggle for harm reduction, advocacy and community safety. 

What to expect on the night: 

• Storytelling Sessions: Hear firsthand accounts from queer and trans story tellers, sharing both historic and contemporary experiences.
• Memorial Vigil: Honour loved ones lost to overdose with a memorial, accompanied by peer support available for all who attend. 
• Community Engagement: Connect with others, learn from harm reduction activists and organisations on what you can do to continue to prevent overdose and practice community care.

Doors open 6:30pm 

Vegan food available for purchase by @Auntiewombat 

Performances from 7:30pm  

The Cosmic Nuns 

The Cosmic Nuns are part of the Life Rites Funerals creative team. They are Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor, Life Rites’ team elder, along with Victoria Spence and Sarah Barry, both of whom are mortality doulas and holistic funeral directors. Between them, they are present in the visible spaces of ceremony, as well as the invisible spaces of the mortuary, laying their hands on and taking care of y/our dead, and all who love them.  

They approach mortality with care and grace. Shimmering out the fear of death by bringing it into everyday conversation.  Moving grief through their and your bodies with words, stillness and dance: a welcome sight for all when navigating the thresholds of grief, life, love and loss.  

liferites.com.au @liferitesfunerals  

Hosted by Davina Chor (she/her) 

The Transfiguress, is a versatile artist and performer on Gadigal Land, known in Sydney's Performance Art scene and is a fixture at Queer events in Sydney. With a captivating stage presence, she's celebrated as one of the city's sweethearts. She has worked on projects like Brooke Andrew's 'Gaban' at NSW Art Gallery, co-curated Sissyball 2024 with the godmother of Australian ballroom Kilia Pahulu.   

Storytellers for the evening:  
Matt Stegh (he/him -Wiradjuri/Croatian/Austria) is an interdisciplinary artist, activist and community organiser. His design and craft focuses on costume, regalia, textiles and inflatables for dance, performance, theatre, film and immersive community engagement. 
Matt Stegh has been instrumental in Gadigals’ underground queer clubbing and activist communities, as a key collaborator on parties such as Monsta Gras and Pink Bubble and the infamous Glitter Militia events. 

NJ (she/they) is a Suicide Prevention Peer Specialist, a queer trans woman, and a descendant of the Wiradjuri people. In her role as peer worker, she is an advocate for her communities, using her experiences of substance use, overdose, and recovery, to collaborate with community experiencing systemic discrimination. She loves to be in the outside, in the water, or connecting with other outsiders through her hardcore punk band. 

Bo Justin Xiao (he/him) is a Chinese Australian LGBTQ+ health advocate living in Sydney. He brings his intersectional lived experience to his work at ACON, and leads the health promotion programs for people who live with HIV and/or engage in chemsex. Bo Justin is a postgraduate social work student at The University of Sydney. 
Over the years Bo Justin has been involved in a number of community organisations to support program implementation, campaigns, research and policy across the sector. He is a Board Director at the National Association of People with HIV Australia, and a member of Positive Asian Network Australia. 

Mae (she/her) Mae is a descendent of the stolen generation with connections to the Kamilaroi nation. In her work, Mae explores her intersectional experiences of addiction, recovery and being a lesbian. Mae has spent most of her adult life working as a Social Worker and Family Therapist with marginalised communities in Western Sydney, specialising in Developmental Trauma. Mae understands the intergenerational harm that systemic violence causes, and uses this knowledge to advocate for change. 

Zeek (he/him) is a queer trans man who has used drugs since his early teens. After periods of consistent use, moderated use and abstinence, he has found a balance that works for him. Now working and volunteering in the sector, Zeek has a passion for social justice and harm reduction, advocating for drug law reform and social change. 

Barbarella Tatjana Karpinski (they/them/she/her) creates Art that is provocative, polarising, edgy and felt.  
Tawdry and tarnished, they now moonlight in salubrious strip bars with a blend of sultry struts and outdated pop culture references. Their writing is irreverent, ironic and grubby. Defiantly oblivious to age and gender norms, they drift to dreamy spaces where they flaunt their nefarious, lascivious and bitter sweet humour, mainly bitter. 
Karpinski has been rescued from the bordellos, squeezed into flimsy age-inappropriate vinyl, spruced up and reinvented for a new generation of queer. Like-a-versions abound but the original is still here! 

Storytelling mentorship by Enoch Mailangi:
Enoch Mailangi (they/them) A MFA NIDA graduate, Enoch was a 2019-2021 Sydney Theatre Company Emerging Playwright and an Urban Theatre Project Resident Artist. Enoch is a screenwriter who has worked across several developments and written on tv series including; Year Of, Crazy Fun Park, While The Men Are Away, Preppers, All My Friends Are Racist and most recently was a consultant on Heartbreak High. The next show they have written on is Invisible Boys which has just wrapped production.  
Enoch continues working in development of new Australian works which champion Queer, Indigenous Australian, and Pasifika voices and draws from a lived-experience to develop emerging storytellers.  

Trigger/content warning:
Please be advised that this event will include discussions around alcohol and other drug use, as well as overdose and drug related deaths. We recognise that these sensitive topics may be triggering to some community members. To support your mental wellbeing, we will have a quite space available, with dedicated staff offering peer support.  

Your emotional wellbeing is our priority.  

With the support of organisations KRC, NUAA, SWOP and International Overdose Awareness Day, join us to honour the stories often left unshared and celebrate the incredible care within our community. We look forward to seeing you there.

pivotpoint.org.au 

ACON acknowledges that this event takes place on the stolen Lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people. We pay respect to their Elders both past and present.