Sydenham artist takes on residency at Duckie’s Saturday night events

An artist whose experience with mental health challenges produced a honed talent for performance art has been welcomed by one of South London’s most iconic queer organisations.

Zack Mennell, 30, from Sydenham, is currently an artist-in-resident at Duckie.

Founded in 1995 at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Duckie’s Saturday nights became one of the world’s longest-running LGBTQ+ club nights.

Twenty-seven years later, in 2022, the ground-breaking shows ended after revenue at the bar dwindled. But, Duckie was more than just a club night and had transformed into a powerhouse performance collective which continues to run projects across Vauxhall.

One of these is Rat Park, Duckie’s ‘sober’ programme of weekly gatherings running every Saturday night across February from secret venues in Vauxhall.

The events offer an open space to discuss intimacy, pleasure, chemsex, cruising and shame. 

Zack performs a new piece each week throughout their residency, where they explore toxicity, trauma and difficult legacies. 

Following on from their Vauxhall shows, Zack will go on to present new commissions at Liverpool’s DaDaFest this March and in June at Estuary Festival in South Essex. 

Zack, who is neurodiverse, uses writing, photography, film and performance to explore queerness while dealing with mental health challenges.

Zack’s mental health collapsed while they were studying at university in London. They experienced little support leading to them being institutionalised, experiencing mania and psychosis. 

Zack said: “I left home to study at university in London at 20. Pressures of studies, finances, and family difficulties compounded with addiction and pre-existing mental ill-health culminated in a mental breakdown.

“I spent three months waiting and being passed from pillar to post in the NHS and university pastoral networks. After an eventual stint in a psychiatric unit, I left with several diagnoses alongside several neurodivergent diagnoses. 

“By the time I entered robust long-term mental health support on the NHS four years later, I had implemented a daily practice of self-inquiry, addiction recovery, and support through my artistic practice. 

“I don’t see this as being art as therapy. All I knew was how to make and do art, so I focused on what I was capable of.”

Zack’s latest work, which will feature in his festival appearances throughout the spring and summer is (para)site, A Sea Change.

Initially commissioned by Thames Festival Trust and presented at Deptford’s VSSL Studio in 2022, (para)site examines the current climate of political hostility towards disabled, neurodivergent, queer and working-class communities.

Zack’s work is also concerned with ecology. For Liverpool’s Bluecoat in March they will premiere Rage Reactor, an installation and performance about the relationship between the nuclear family and how the civil nuclear industry affects the land. 

Zack said: “All my work starts from a state of compulsion.

“It is an ongoing attempt to reconcile images, words, and sensations that haunt me. I research intensely, diving into dense academic papers and books while bathing in a wash of images, material, sound, and place. 

“This allows work to emerge that is not directly recognisable as being about but is intrinsically entangled with the knowledge and culture of my topics of enquiry.”

Pictured top: Zack Mennell, (para)site 2022, (Picture: Image courtesy of Thames Festival Trust/ Milo Robinson)