Luke Roberts archive
Collection
The collection contains: biographical and personal papers, cards and a sombrero; papers, shirts and realia associated with the town of Alpha, in Central Queensland; papers and T-shirts associated with the Catholic Church predominately on its stance on sexuality and use of condoms; papers, T-shirts and a bandanna and posters associated with the LGBTIQ community; papers, issues of the journal ‘Apocalypse International’, realia, posters, a banner, gown and T-shirts associated with the Raëlism movement; a photographic timeline of people, objects and events documenting Luke Roberts’ life; other slides, transparencies, photographs, photograph printouts and negatives more focused on Luke Roberts’ work; professional papers such as references, correspondence, and Queensland Artworkers Alliance administrative records; Alice Jitterbug material including postcards, posters and a T-shirt; Her Divine Holiness (HDH) Pope Alice exhibition material such as exhibition catalogues, ephemera, clippings, posters, stamp, T-shirts and stickers as well as other material such as a HDH Pope Alice Products & Designs folder; material associated with other Luke Roberts’ exhibitions such as exhibition catalogues, ephemera and clippings, posters, banners and T-shirt (including material for the Mary MacKillop Art Award); material for the public art Roma Street Parklands and West End Subtropical Boulevard projects as well as for a project wherein Luke Roberts’ painted a portrait of gallery owner Peter Bellas; various artworks created by Luke Roberts; and miscellaneous material which mainly comprises varied paraphernalia that may have informed Luke Roberts’ artistic practice.
Luke was born in Byron Street, in the town of Alpha, Central Queensland in 1952. Luke was the eldest of 10 children and grew up in an intensely Catholic environment. He enjoyed dressing up and by age 12 was a veteran director of cowboy, Indian and Roman epics staged with the help of family and friends. He attended the Catholic boarding school ‘St Joseph's Convent and Primary School’ in the 1960s. The school was run by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and the classroom was dominated by a huge portrait of Mary McKillop that gazed continuously at the students as they worked. The influence of the Church, this portrait and the nuns left their impressions on a young Luke. After 3 years at boarding school, Luke realised he was gay at which point a school priest referred him to a psychologist. Luke found his sexuality became a burden exacerbated by his role as eldest son in a traditional Catholic family. This led him to abandon the church. Catholicism up to now been his rock but Luke found it a necessary decision.
Multiple copyright statuses.