Peter Tully

Bio

Peter Tully (1947–1992) was an artist, jeweller, costume designer, and gay community activist based in Sydney, Australia. As the inaugural artistic director (1982–86) of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Tully made a significant contribution to Australian gay cultural expression and Sydney’s nightlife in the 1980s and '90s. Tully met fellow artist David McDiarmid in 1973. The two were lovers for two years and remained friends and collaborated on numerous projects until Tully's untimely death in 1992. His fashion output has been recognised in exhibitions such as Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson: Flamingo Park and Bush Couture (1985) at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. A Tully Australiana-themed necklace was featured on an Australian postage stamp in 1988. His iconic New Age Business Suit appeared in Australian Fashion: The Contemporary Art (1989–90), held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and in Tokyo and Seoul. Collaborating with Ron Smith, he applied his skills in the design and fabrication of large-scale popular visual structures to the floats and costumes for ‘Expo ’88’ in Brisbane, and conceived installations for the traveling Australian Bicentenary Exhibition. A retrospective exhibition, Peter Tully: Urban Tribalwear and Beyond, was mounted at the National Gallery of Australia in 1991. His last exhibition was the June 1992 presentation of Australian artists at the Société de la Propriété Artistique et des Dessins et Modèles gallery, Paris. Tully's works are held in various museums and collections around Australia. Tully died of AIDS-related illness in Paris in 1992, at the age of 45.

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