Peter Tully

Peter Tully (1947-1992), was an Australian jewellery designer, costume maker, visual artist, and gay-community activist whose work became central to the development of the distinctive aesthetic "urban tribalwear," which combines plastics, found materials, global street culture, and queer performance traditions. He collaborated extensively with designers Linda Jackson, Jenny Kee, and David McDiarmid, Tully's work is held all over the Country in major Australian collection including the Powerhouse Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria,

He once said of the legendary Paradise Garage disco in New York: 'It was about 85% black and very exciting. They played the best music I'd never heard and the people dressed. Even though they didn't dress expensively, they had lots of style. They could wear a paper bag and look like a million dollars. And they really impressed me. So that was the impetus to get into costume.'

Urban Tribalwear In the late 1970s and early 1980s Tully developed the concept of "urban tribalwear".

His experience of traditional tribal cultures through many years of travel in New Guinea, Africa and India - along with the vibrant and creative urban sub-cultural 'tribes' he saw in New York - stimulated the development of his 'urban tribalwear'. and through the establishment and management of the Workshop. It was in these roles that Tully greatly contributed to the transformation of the Mardi Gras from a political march to cultural event.

He played a major role in shaping the parade's visual identity, encouraging community groups to adopt bold, imaginative, and politically expressive costume and float designs. He encouraged participants to use recycled materials, plastics, and handmade adornment, reflecting his own artistic philosophy.(3)

Exhibitions Tully exhibited widely throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Collections Tully's work is held in several major Australian public colelctions, including:

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney - extensive holdings of jewellery, wearable art, and Mardi Gras material becoming lovers for the following two years, and remaining friends and collaborators till Tully's death in 1992; McDiarmid had influenced Tully artistically as well as politically. in Paris on 10 August 1992 due to AIDS-related conditions, he was then cremated. Curator Robert Lake. Sydney Gay Mardi Gras Museum Exhibition to celebrate 35 years of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, drawing on the extensive holdings of the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA). At 94 Oxford St Darlinghurst NSW 2010 from 29 January 2013 to ?.February 2013. Mix Tape 1980s: Appropriation, Subculture, Critical Style, National Gallery of Victoria, 11 April–1 September 2013