Thirty years ago the world was experiencing another fatal pandemic – AIDS. One of its many many victims was up and coming British artist, David Robilliard. A friend of the iconic London queer artists, Gilbert and George, David was a poet, painter and writer.
Skip forward to 2020 and film/TV maker, Joe Ingham, a long-time fan of David’s work, has made his own short film featuring lines selected from his favourite pieces. The project, entitled Baby Lies Truthfully, includes not only lines from David’s book of the same name but also quotes from his other books The Cat’s Pyjamas and Swallowing Helmets.
He then contacted David’s good friends Gilbert and George for the cover artwork and reached out to Russell Tovey, (Looking, The Pass) to read David’s words. ‘I wanted to select works which would showcase David’s range,’ Joe says, ‘he could make you laugh and cry in the space of a few lines. It’s an ability few poets or writers possess.
Joe, how did you first hear of David’s work?
I first discovered David’s work a few years ago rooting around the bargain bucket in the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London – a favourite hobby of mine. I came across a book called The Cat’s Pyjamas and I was hooked. I’m not big on poetry but these poems took me by the jugular. They were arresting and raw. I couldn’t believe that the book had been published in 1991, thirty years ago. You could have told me they were by an up and coming writer and I would have believed you.
What was it about David and his work that you initially connected with?
I immediately connected with David’s work on several levels despite the fact he passed before I was born. He wrote about the gay scene, sex, dating and love in a way that I had never read before. He was brutally honest about its worst aspects , he tapped into the feeling of being a commodity sized up at a meat market. But at the same time, he could conjure the feeling of first falling in love. He could explore the ecstasy of affection and intimacy with a man and then, at a turn, stop you short with a laceratingly cutting line. He could turn on a dime and I love reading his work because of that – each poem is a rollercoaster.
From researching David further for Baby Lies Truthfully – what has been your favourite story you have heard about David?
There have been so many stories. One of the joys of making this film was tracking down and connecting with his friends. Sadly, there aren’t many of them because so many young men died with AIDS just as they were beginning to break through – thousands of creatives, inventors, trailblazers in all sorts of fields were lost. One anecdote which did stand out was, having been diagnosed with the virus, David began to introduce himself (at a time when many who were ill were desperately trying to hide their diagnosis) as David RobilliAIDS to people, including perplexed critics and gallery owners. I love that – he was never afraid to indulge in black comedy to shock and expose the truth of a situation. And that isn’t to say he didn’t care – he did care, he cared deeply but less about keeping up appearances and more about the truth.
Do we know what he was up to when writing Baby Lies Truthfully?
Baby Lies Truthfully was a collection of poems which was published posthumously in 1990. David only had a couple of volumes published whilst he was alive, much more of his work was published after his death in 1988. Gilbert and George were instrumental in getting his work out and they have been so kind and generous with this project, the photo used in the film’s artwork is by them. Baby Lies Truthfully contains poems which were written just before and after his diagnosis in 1987. The poems still deal with earlier subjects including going out, drinking, sex but, increasingly, the poems took on additional dimensions. They began to exhibit an existential quality with universal topics such as purpose, loneliness and, inevitably, death being explored.
How did Russell become involved?
I knew that Russell liked Art, so I took a punt and slipped into his DM’s which isn’t entirely professional but if you don’t ask you don’t get. Luckily, Russell not only knew of David, he knew about him and how David often had people perform his works for him – he wasn’t one for recitals or performances as such. Russell then took the script which I’d developed and took it into directions I didn’t even know were possible. It’s bizarre because this was done remotely during lockdown. It’s been revelatory to make something so quickly and just put it out without getting bogged down in rehearsals or waiting for distribution. Russell is amazing – like David there is a complete absence of ego.
Where would you most like to exhibit Baby Lies Truthfully?
The film was only completed a few days ago so it’s hot off the press! Usually we would wait months and months for a festival to select us. But COVID has changed everything. We have entered a few festivals but at the same time I just think fuck it – let’s get it out there. Let’s have it online, playing in bars, at the bus stop. I think the last few months have completely changed the way I and other filmmakers work. We are experimenting with the way we make things and how we distribute them. It’s an approach I am hoping David would have approved of. He didn’t play by the rules and neither am I.
Lastly, we are named after the infamous Mariah Carey song and always ask, what is your favourite Mariah song?
Without a doubt it’s ‘We Belong Together’. First, it’s just a brilliant song lyrically and musically, it is catchy as hell. Secondly, when you consider how rough the early 2000’s were for her both professionally and personally and then to release this – I think it’s one of the greatest music comebacks ever staged.
