DJ’s Story of a Fairy Family

I rarely rarely rarely weep in public… today, however, was one of those days!

<*im saying that knowing that for some reason this queer herstory work has the superpower to make my eyes leak!>

I had the great honour of holding and spending time with this (soon to be) iconic piece of queer history.

The Story of a Fairy Family was exceptionally lovingly handcrafted by Vera Jack Holme for her lovers at the time, this one belonging to Dorothy Johnstone (aka Dodo). In the photo with me is Liz Sutherland, Dodo’s granddaughter who has been helping me recover the story of her grandmother, and her female partners, who included Jack, and Anne Finlay (aka Spook) - who were the real life thrupple written about in this incredible queer fairy story, from 1918. The stunning illustrations within the book are handrawn by another of Dodo’s female lovers, Cecile Walton. All of whom spent long bohemian summers together, taking up residence in Kirkcudbright.

This major new piece of under-represented women’s queer history / herstory coming to life in my hands in the most magnificent and beautiful of ways., after months of eagerly waiting to see it in real life and read its contents, Liz surprised it with me on her visit today. Too much queer joy for my lil auld queer heart to cope with, utterly blown away by its sentiment and beauty, and the care / skill / time Jack must have poured into its creation, with each of the 5 copies in existence having been individually handrawn by Cecile and handwritten in the most gorgeous script by Jack.

<*Seems it quite literally had my name written all over it - destiny abound! >

Coming (sort of) soon to a gallery near you - if you are lucky enough to live in Dumfries & Galloway that is! Spring / Summer of 2025 is going to be spectacular on the queer history of D&G front… literally cannot wait to share this awesomeness with y’all.

All my heartfelt gratitude out to the Sutherland family for trusting me with this phenomenal family heirloom, especially to Liz for bringing this up to Kirkcudbright this week, for many trips down memory lane, and for being so generous with your time, insight and energy to help us manifest this into reality.

And to the trailblazing Wendy Moore for laying the trail so perfectly and creating the connections to help us reveal yet another incredible queer women’s history associated with my beloved Dumfries & Galloway.

My work to map the region’s queer history, queering our archives and helping our local queer ancestors take their rightful place, Pride of Place in our local cultural heritage / history books just got thee most fabulous step forward!