WEBVTT

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<v ->It was so successful, we just got asked to do lots</v>

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of things together and we didn't even

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call ourselves The Huxleys.

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People would say, "Oh, the Huxleys are here.

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Who are these, Huxleys?"

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So everything just happened. It wasn't really planned.

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(gentle upbeat music)

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<v ->When we started making art, no art places</v>

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took us seriously.

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We tried to show in galleries to represent us and tried

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to get the art community behind us

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and no one was interested.

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And we were just like, "We love doing this enough

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that we're just going to put it out into the world."

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And we kept making things on our own, funding

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our own projects, doing it because we loved it.

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And eventually people catch up with you and you know,

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a lot of people ask us, "Do you make your own things?"

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And we're like, "Where else would we find these?"

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And I think by the fact that you're not trained,

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or neither of us are trained is a good thing

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because it allows you to dream bigger.

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Otherwise you might say, "That can't be created."

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<v ->You're not confined by any rules and you make things</v>

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that other people will be like, "Oh, you can't do that."

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And you just find a way, so you just do it.

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And I've had fashion designers look at my work and go,

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"How did you do this," or, "How do you get into it?"

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And I'm like, "Oh, this way and that way."

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But you just don't have any rules in your head.

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(gentle upbeat music)

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<v ->Garrett and I decided to make a series of work</v>

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called "Postcards from the Edge."

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And these are postcards from the areas and the places

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that we grew up in.

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So Garrett is from the Gold Coast and I am from Perth.

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And we went on this journey where we tried to find

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and source postcards from the area and the places

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that exactly places that we were in as children.

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<v ->Yeah, and by taking yourself back to that time</v>

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as you are now, I felt the same as, you know,

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when I was 12 in that situation even though I wasn't

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you know, painted in green, glitter, and had wigs.

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I felt like that.

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And I completely felt like that so it was nice, you know,

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bringing those two worlds together.

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<v ->And one thing that we did that was nice with the postcards</v>

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is this two postcards called "Small Town Boy: Perth"

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and "Small Town Boy: Gold Coast."

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Where we actually meet and we're joined

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by a sequin string of heart between us.

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And it was our idea that wouldn't it been wonderful

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if we had actually met from those places.

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And it's a way of us coming together.

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We did a thing together maybe five years ago,

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it was called "People of Letters."

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We wrote letters from the time when we were struggling,

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growing up in these places to each other,

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like dreaming of each other.

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And it was so beautiful because it was just like the idea

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that you could have someone that would make you feel okay

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for who you were at that time.

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Like, if I had met Garrett when I was in school,

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I think my life would've been a lot easier.

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And that was something that, yeah.

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<v ->And it's been nice since we've met each other</v>

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and being together, we go back to Perth and the Gold Coast.

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And in a place that you used to get yelled at for being gay,

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being called poof, or whatever.

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You know, people are like, "I like your outfit."

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And I'm like, "Okay, this is nice."

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You know, things are changing which is really beautiful.

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(bright upbeat music)

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<v ->The idea of masking is fascinating to me</v>

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because it creates this almost anonymous,

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we could be anyone or anything underneath that mask.

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And it gives this sense of freedom.

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For me I love the idea that it takes away, you know,

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wearing costumes that hide your identity.

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It takes away gender and it takes away race and class

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and all these things that were divided

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and put into binaries.

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And once you become this creation, it's so freeing

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and I couldn't get up and perform as well, obviously,

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it would be terrifying.

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But when I'm at an amazing costume and makeup and wigs,

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it creates this diversion that allows me

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to be the most fantastical escapist version

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of myself possible.

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It gives me the confidence.

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<v ->Yeah, I think wearing the mask came from not wanting</v>

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to be seen first, so hiding behind the mask.

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'Cause I grew up very shy and still am

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quite shy and introverted.

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And I find it more interesting to look at as well.

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I find something like that more interesting.

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But you develop something in you, you find a power

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or something that isn't you.

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It's a freedom, you escape from all these constraints

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on yourself.

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So there is something really liberating about performing

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not as yourself, but as these characters that you've created

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in a way, but it's still you, you know. (laughs)

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<v ->In costume, generally it always interested me.</v>

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Even like, people, military, or any kind of costume,

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you're putting on something to go out in the world

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and do a role and do something that you maybe not

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when you're at home.

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<v ->Well, what's interesting, when we make our costumes,</v>

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we don't know who's going to pop out in a way.

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And it's just so interesting, like you think, "Oh my God,

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I can't believe I'm this frantic character inside

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this costume.

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Didn't expect this."

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And yeah, the latest ones we know something's

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going to happen.

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We put the latest costumes on and we're like,

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"Oh, this is slow."

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You know, there's a slow kind of graceful people

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that are happening at the moment.

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It's really exciting.

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<v ->We call it from page to stage.</v>

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(Garrett laughs)

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We love the drawings that we do when we come up

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with an idea.

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So basically, I mean neither us are very good drawers.

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I'm particularly bad, but they're like childlike drawings

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of either like a photographic scene or a costume.

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And it's amazing when you take that childlike drawing

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and then bring it into a reality.

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I love that transformation.

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And the costumes often end up looking like me.

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<v ->They look like, the pictures.</v>

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<v ->(laughs) The pictures, but like</v>

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a heightened glamorous version.

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(Garrett laughs)

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I love seeing the contrast between those two things

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and they're your dream and then the reality made.

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Yeah, I think that is one of the great thrills for me

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seeing it when it comes to life.

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Yeah.

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<v ->And in between that there's a lot of frustration, tears.</v>

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And, "This isn't going to work."

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<v ->Yeah, there's a lot.</v>

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There's a lot of failures, trial and error, you know.

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(both laughs)

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(gentle bright music)

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(car doors thud)