Beverley and Vicki
Paul Johns

One night only. Friday 18 October 2025, 9pm
Presented at MESH lX Return, 2/57

Paul Johns’ video from the 1970s captures Beverley and Vicki, two working girls at The Balcony, Carmen Rupe’s legendary business, also known as Le Balcon, then located on the site of what is now the Wellington Central Library. Named after Jean Genet’s play, The Balcony reflected Rupe’s broader commitment to prioritising sex workers and advancing trans rights. Johns’ film situates itself within this context, offering a glimpse of Beverley and Vicki in the intimate ritual of preparing for a night at the club. The work quietly documents gestures of self-presentation, each brush of make-up and adjustment of clothing a return to the self, a reclaiming of image and agency. Beverley, known for her striptease to Sylvia’s disco anthem Pillow Talk, carried this same play of allure into Johns’ frame. This sensitivity to moments in between the staged is central to Johns’ practice. His camera sought out what was unguarded and authentic, resisting spectacle in favour of fleeting intimacies. Shot during a weekend trip from Christchurch to Wellington, Johns frames the act of getting ready as a performance of resilience, kinship, and self-definition within a shifting cultural landscape.

COMMODE is proud to show Beverley and Vicki at MESH on 18 October, hosted at 2/57 directly opposite where The Balcony once stood. This connects contemporary queer club nights such as MESH to those of the past, building on our histories while centering the trans workers and performers of those clubs. In doing so, the screening acknowledges the continuities between Johns’ documentation and the cultures that continue to animate Wellington’s queer nightlife.

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Paul Johns is a conceptual artist based in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa, working predominantly in photography, film, neon and installation. With a practice spanning over five decades, recent exhibitions include Beautiful Flowers and How to Grow Them, The Dowse Art Museum with City Gallery Wellington; Perilous, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Ōtautahi; Midnight Cowboy, Pah Homestead, Tāmaki Makaurau; Body-Maker, Olga, Ōtepoti; Listening Stones Jumping Rocks, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara; Been Here Long?, Visions, Tāmaki Makaurau; Paul Johns & Billy Apple, Nadene Milne Gallery, Ōtautahi.