Historic posters illuminate Vancouver’s LGBTQIA2S+ history

By Chloe Riley

The Perry the Poster Man collection in SFU Library’s Special Collections and Rare Books offers a vivid visual tour through some of the cultural history and activism of Vancouver’s LGBTQIA2S+ community.

Posters paper our cities with announcements of concerts, theatrical performances, rallies, protests, and benefits, and can give us a snapshot of the events and movements of a specific point in time. Especially for marginalized groups and underground or grassroots movements, posters can be an important record of past activities.

But posters are often tossed away or discarded, and that ephemeral history can be lost. Luckily, Perry Giguere had the foresight to preserve some of this incredible history throughout his 40-year career.

In his job distributing posters around Vancouver, Giguere, known as Perry the Poster Man, started to keep copies for himself. He amassed nearly 250,000 posters, a significant and unique collection spanning from 1978 to 2016.

Melanie Hardbattle, a former archivist in Special Collections who now works in SFU’s University Archives, worked closely with Giguere on the donation of 35,000 posters to SFU Library from 2015 until his death on June 17, 2018. “He could always tell you a story about every poster or the person that was on the poster,” she shared in an interview with The Peak in 2018.

One of the major themes of Giguere’s collection depicts the cultural and political history and activism of the LGBTQIAS2S+ community. You can explore decades of colourful, eye-catching, and avant-garde festival announcements from the Vancouver Queer Film Fest, concert promotions from the Vancouver Men’s Chorus and the Rainy City Gay Men’s Chorus, and other performances and events. Many take place at venues that no longer exist.

You can also catch a glimpse of the Vancouver-area performance histories of LGBTQIA2S+ musicians and performing artists, such as Tegan and Sara and Ivan Coyote. They can be spotted in the lineups listed on posters of concerts and festivals such as Grrrlapalooza and the Under the Volcano Festival of Art and Social Change.

The collection also includes an array of AIDS-related events and activism, including: promotion of AIDS awareness, such as World AIDS Day; fundraising activities, such as AIDS walks, benefits, concerts, galas, and art shows; and announcements of memorials and vigils.

“These posters animate Vancouver to those familiar with its past and offer a tale of a vibrant, culturally adventurous city to newcomers,” shared Melissa Salrin, Head of Special Collections. “Every time I study them, I learn something new.”

In addition to showcasing events and activities, the posters illustrate trends in poster art and design, including changing styles of visual communication, graphics, and techniques.

In documenting the social, cultural, and political activities of Vancouver, the Perry the Poster Man collection provides insight beyond the LGBTQIA2S+ community, including topics such as environmentalism, labour movements, Indigenous peoples, protests and activism, benefits and causes, literary arts, and more.

Nearly 1,200 of these posters have been digitized and shared online, thanks to grant funding and generous donors. The posters have attracted interest from researchers all over the world, and the online collection offers students, researchers, artists, and community members the opportunity to explore this unique glimpse of Vancouver history.

Explore the online Perry the Poster Man collection, from SFU Library’s Special Collections and Rare Books.