I am so grateful to folks like the WestPride Archives, especially in tumultuous times like these, for their work preserving human art and queer stories. If you’re able to, I would so highly recommend volunteering for similar efforts where you are, or going out to see exhibitions on your local queer history!
Matt added Note! Love getting to see Hien touch base with his queer roots? US TOO! Support us and we’ll hire him to do it some more ;D
Finally, check out our socials!
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BETTER YET: just give us a follow, for free on Patreon
Finally the three cursed socials we’re trying to move away from:
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Always looking to get more Reddit exposure too! Feel free to post work from our Updated-comics catalogue.
↓ Comic Transcript
Hien Pham draws in a lushly rendered style that alternates between realistic illustrations and simplified chibi cartoons in textured pencil lines. He uses the full spectrum of colors. Hien himself is a bespectacled, dark-skinned, heavyset man with thinning hair pulled into a bun and a bushy beard.
Narration: WestPride Archives is a not-for-profit volunteer-run organization dedicated to preserving queer materials of historical significance in Perth.
A hand is seen turning a crank to slide a mobile shelving unit along a wall full of identical units that are only differentiated by the topics listed on their outer-facing walls. The categories include: Western Gay, Sapphic Women, Women's Lib, Feminist Papers, Marching Boys, Dykes with Pride, Dykes on Bikes.
"Come have a look!" Calls the voice belonging to the hand turning the crank as the interior shelves are revealed.
Narration: Started in the mid-90s, their collections are currently kept safe underneath the Murdoch University library.
"We have books, journals, full magazine runs, banners from the Freedom Center, outfits from past Pride parades..." Explains a young woman with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, glasses, and wearing the rainbow lanyard that all the WPA volunteers sport around their necks.
"Whoa!!!" Hien exclaims in delighted shock, reverting to his simplified chibi-form as he marvels in delight at the rows of books and assorted papers that fill the shelves that tower over his head.
"That there is an entire computer we inherited from the Lespar Library of Women's Liberation with all of their digital databases!" Continues the first volunteer.
"That's so cool!!!" Marvels Hien at the ancient technology. "Do you have any comics?!"
"Not here..." Answers another a middle-aged woman with short greying brown hair. "but we do have these cartoon postcards." She expertly lifts the lid from a box on one shelf, showing stacks of postcards and flyers inside.
Page 2
Narration: Last year, a business fed my art to generative AI models without my consent or knowledge to generate a poster.
Holding the box in one hand, Hien pulls out a postcard showing a pro-choice march printed on yellow paper.
Narration: Predictably, the resulting image had stripped away all traces of the integrity and heart I placed in my work. The experience left me wounded for a time, and now it's ignited a passion in me to seek out human stories more than ever before.
The organizers work around a rounded dining room table that has been extended with an additional panel in the center. Seven volunteers bustle at their stations doing a number of activities to document and preserve the printed artifacts that they're working with.
"We should post that one online!" Suggests one volunteer to another who is in the process of taking a photo of a poster.
"29 by 40 centimeters poster featuring Wonder Woman..." Another volunteer reads off the measurements on their measuring tape to someone else who enters the information into a laptop.
"Got'cha." Confirms the typist.
Hien walks around the hubub with his box of postcards in hand.
Narration: What better way to rage against the machine than to sit down with the people working to ensure the proof of our humanity survives whatever lies ahead?
The very first volunteer with the long brown ponytail holds up a clear sheet of plastic, asking Hien, "Do you want to help me make a poster sleeve?"
"Yes, please!" He agrees.
Page 3
"Leave some room on the other edges, then push the knife right up against the roller." She explains as he pulls a sheet of clear plastic from an industrial roll that is suspended in a contraption designed specifically for cutting this material. As he carefully slides his knife through the plastic, she observes, "Oh, you're much more gentle than I am!"
"Really? Haha!" Laughs Hien, and then follows up with, "Can I ask, is the AIDS quilt in the WestPride Archives' collections?"
"Oh, no, it's cared for by the WA Museum." She answers are she sews through a plastic sheet on her sewing machine, turning it into a sleeve for housing posters. "But we do have very high-quality photos archived! We all have our own special areas of interest in Perth's queer history. Is that yours?"
"Yeah!" Agree Hien. "I saw it in an exhibition for the first time a couple years ago."
In a flashback, Hien is seen in a spacious museum with a giant quilt on display. Behind it are several screens with a row of chairs in front of them.
Narration: I'd seen records of different quilts over the years, but nothing could have prepared me for witnessing ours in person.
Page 4
Narration: The sheer size of it. The texture of everyday bedroom materials stitched onto each panel brought out this visceral tenderness-
Square panels list the names of various people across the quilt, each one in a different style with different decorations.
Narration: -this longing, this absolute adoration the quiltmakers had for those they'd lost.
Hien sits before a screen, watching an interview.
Narration: Videos of folks recounting stories about the names honoured on the quilt were playing. What stuck with me was just how much these people mattered to those around them.
Back in the present day, the WestPride volunteers are engrossed in their tasks as they work together to document and log their artifacts. It's a flurry of engaged, excited activity between pairs helping each other accomplish their archival duties.
Narration: There were friends who loved them. Found families who never gave up on them.
"It made me feel like I matter, just the same." Hien muses to himself thoughtfully as he takes in the scene before him.
Page 5
Narration: Bearing witness to the history of people like me changed the way I make art now.
The background shifts into a wallpaper of the hundreds of comic pages that Hien has lovingly illustrated over the years. Their colorful panels are reminiscent of the quilt squares from the museum.
Narration: I'm not just writing comics anymore, I'm weaving a tapestry of feelings I have for me friends and all the places I was privileged to have met them. I'm creating proof that I care about them, and proof that they care about me. It's only thanks to the hands of folks like the WestPride Archives that human stories could have the chance to come across hearts like mine who need them.
Back in the community center, Hien holds up the poster that's just safely encapsulated in a large plastic sleeve. "Wouldn't it be amazing if..." He ponders with a smile as he takes in his work.
Narration: ...some day in the future...
Vintage posters and flyers in plastic are seen overlaid on top of Hien's own comic pages and paraphernalia that he's worked on.
Narration: ...the proof of my life could let another boy like me feel like he matters, too.
Transcribed by Erika Moen on 10/5/26 for ohjoysextoy.com
Narration: WestPride Archives is a not-for-profit volunteer-run organization dedicated to preserving queer materials of historical significance in Perth.
A hand is seen turning a crank to slide a mobile shelving unit along a wall full of identical units that are only differentiated by the topics listed on their outer-facing walls. The categories include: Western Gay, Sapphic Women, Women's Lib, Feminist Papers, Marching Boys, Dykes with Pride, Dykes on Bikes.
"Come have a look!" Calls the voice belonging to the hand turning the crank as the interior shelves are revealed.
Narration: Started in the mid-90s, their collections are currently kept safe underneath the Murdoch University library.
"We have books, journals, full magazine runs, banners from the Freedom Center, outfits from past Pride parades..." Explains a young woman with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, glasses, and wearing the rainbow lanyard that all the WPA volunteers sport around their necks.
"Whoa!!!" Hien exclaims in delighted shock, reverting to his simplified chibi-form as he marvels in delight at the rows of books and assorted papers that fill the shelves that tower over his head.
"That there is an entire computer we inherited from the Lespar Library of Women's Liberation with all of their digital databases!" Continues the first volunteer.
"That's so cool!!!" Marvels Hien at the ancient technology. "Do you have any comics?!"
"Not here..." Answers another a middle-aged woman with short greying brown hair. "but we do have these cartoon postcards." She expertly lifts the lid from a box on one shelf, showing stacks of postcards and flyers inside.
Page 2
Narration: Last year, a business fed my art to generative AI models without my consent or knowledge to generate a poster.
Holding the box in one hand, Hien pulls out a postcard showing a pro-choice march printed on yellow paper.
Narration: Predictably, the resulting image had stripped away all traces of the integrity and heart I placed in my work. The experience left me wounded for a time, and now it's ignited a passion in me to seek out human stories more than ever before.
The organizers work around a rounded dining room table that has been extended with an additional panel in the center. Seven volunteers bustle at their stations doing a number of activities to document and preserve the printed artifacts that they're working with.
"We should post that one online!" Suggests one volunteer to another who is in the process of taking a photo of a poster.
"29 by 40 centimeters poster featuring Wonder Woman..." Another volunteer reads off the measurements on their measuring tape to someone else who enters the information into a laptop.
"Got'cha." Confirms the typist.
Hien walks around the hubub with his box of postcards in hand.
Narration: What better way to rage against the machine than to sit down with the people working to ensure the proof of our humanity survives whatever lies ahead?
The very first volunteer with the long brown ponytail holds up a clear sheet of plastic, asking Hien, "Do you want to help me make a poster sleeve?"
"Yes, please!" He agrees.
Page 3
"Leave some room on the other edges, then push the knife right up against the roller." She explains as he pulls a sheet of clear plastic from an industrial roll that is suspended in a contraption designed specifically for cutting this material. As he carefully slides his knife through the plastic, she observes, "Oh, you're much more gentle than I am!"
"Really? Haha!" Laughs Hien, and then follows up with, "Can I ask, is the AIDS quilt in the WestPride Archives' collections?"
"Oh, no, it's cared for by the WA Museum." She answers are she sews through a plastic sheet on her sewing machine, turning it into a sleeve for housing posters. "But we do have very high-quality photos archived! We all have our own special areas of interest in Perth's queer history. Is that yours?"
"Yeah!" Agree Hien. "I saw it in an exhibition for the first time a couple years ago."
In a flashback, Hien is seen in a spacious museum with a giant quilt on display. Behind it are several screens with a row of chairs in front of them.
Narration: I'd seen records of different quilts over the years, but nothing could have prepared me for witnessing ours in person.
Page 4
Narration: The sheer size of it. The texture of everyday bedroom materials stitched onto each panel brought out this visceral tenderness-
Square panels list the names of various people across the quilt, each one in a different style with different decorations.
Narration: -this longing, this absolute adoration the quiltmakers had for those they'd lost.
Hien sits before a screen, watching an interview.
Narration: Videos of folks recounting stories about the names honoured on the quilt were playing. What stuck with me was just how much these people mattered to those around them.
Back in the present day, the WestPride volunteers are engrossed in their tasks as they work together to document and log their artifacts. It's a flurry of engaged, excited activity between pairs helping each other accomplish their archival duties.
Narration: There were friends who loved them. Found families who never gave up on them.
"It made me feel like I matter, just the same." Hien muses to himself thoughtfully as he takes in the scene before him.
Page 5
Narration: Bearing witness to the history of people like me changed the way I make art now.
The background shifts into a wallpaper of the hundreds of comic pages that Hien has lovingly illustrated over the years. Their colorful panels are reminiscent of the quilt squares from the museum.
Narration: I'm not just writing comics anymore, I'm weaving a tapestry of feelings I have for me friends and all the places I was privileged to have met them. I'm creating proof that I care about them, and proof that they care about me. It's only thanks to the hands of folks like the WestPride Archives that human stories could have the chance to come across hearts like mine who need them.
Back in the community center, Hien holds up the poster that's just safely encapsulated in a large plastic sleeve. "Wouldn't it be amazing if..." He ponders with a smile as he takes in his work.
Narration: ...some day in the future...
Vintage posters and flyers in plastic are seen overlaid on top of Hien's own comic pages and paraphernalia that he's worked on.
Narration: ...the proof of my life could let another boy like me feel like he matters, too.
Transcribed by Erika Moen on 10/5/26 for ohjoysextoy.com