Pansies (in Summer)

Pansies (in Summer) is a performance art piece set in the gardens of TKE against Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. This is the first performance as part of the Performance Artist Fellow in TKE Studios. This show is by performance art duo Pink Suits. Suddenly, we find ourselves in the garden. An endless desire to make new. To see and be seen. We live and breathe art. Art that lives and breathes. The blooming and wilting cycles of inspiration and creation. Another season, another fucking show. There is beauty in the labour. We bathe in the heat and we brace for the cold. We dance because it is our nature.Pink Suits are a queer multidisciplinary arts duo and punk band based in Margate, UK, formed by artists Ray Prendergast and Lennie. With backgrounds in classical and contemporary dance, their practice begins from movement and performance and expands into live music, film, physical theatre, and visual art.Formed in 2017, Pink Suits developed their project in response to a rising conservative political climate, using loud, direct, and politically charged punk music as a mode of resistance. Their work explores sexuality, fantasy, mental health, and activism, while questioning binary understandings of gender and identity. Voice and the body are treated as instruments of protest, solidarity, and release.Alongside their performative work, Pink Suits are committed to building spaces for LGBTQIA+ community and collective expression. They run community events and club nights, including the nationally touring Queer Cxntry, which has been active for over five years. Highlights include participation in Chaka Khan’s Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre and performances at festivals and venues across the UK.Across music, performance, and community organising, Pink Suits position art as a social and political tool, creating work that is raw, communal, and grounded in lived experience.