one of the things, profound things that s changed in the course of your lifetimes is that when you were growing up and entering adulthood, homosexuality was still criminalised in the uk. oh, yes. 67 was decriminalisation. yeah. that s chimed exactly with our time leaving st martin s. i mean, we thought we were living in the centre of the universe in 67. so, you couldn t be public about the fact you were not just an artistic duo, you were life partners. we didn t think of it in those terms. we don t really believe so much in the male and female or the gay or the straight. we think of a more general, more human.. it was more sexy, yeah. but it was an amazing battle. it was an amazing battle from the art critics, non stop attacking us for being two men together. it was all over the world and was extraordinary. but we won. we won. you think there was a deep seated prejudice inside the art world? which you would think, frankly, has a reputation for being more open minded, more liberal.
and it s also true that we buy a newspaper in the morning. we watch television to check on the enemy at six o clock every day and we know that, out there, there is a huge battle in every single aspect of human life, country to country, company to company, politician to pol so it s an enormous. sorry, what s this battle? the world. it s a huge battle, yeah? but who do you regard as combatants? no, i mean, countries are fighting countries and people and companies are fighting companies. like democracy. we didn t want to be like that. we didn t want to be fighting. democracy and totalitarian countries now, with the battle beyond belief. well, i want to get to more political questions in a minute, butjust let me finish with this personal stuff. we never ask that question, what goes, when we make our picture. but is one of you more the ideas person and the other the editor. ? oo h h! 0h? oh-h-h! it it doesn t work like that. it doesn t it doesn t work like that.
we didn t think of it in those terms. we don t really believe so much in the male and female, or the gay or the straight. we think of a more general, more human.. it was more sexy, yeah. but it was an amazing battle. it was an amazing battle from the art critics, non stop attacking us for being two men together. it was all over the world and was extraordinary. but we won. we won. you think there was a deep seated prejudice inside the art world? which you would think, frankly, has a reputation for being more open minded, more liberal. a lot of closet gay bashers, mostly. famous art critics, like the most famous newspaper in england, or. especially on the left. more on the left. but we always remember, we have a favourite singer called fred barnes, who died before the second world war, and he was an extraordinary outsider. and he wrote a marvellous song. i ll read you the words. it s so beautiful, still. you can imagine this is before the second world war.
religion. naked. human. world. all the thoughts and feelings that lie inside everyone. and we are never run out of subjects, because they re, even getting old, it s an amazing subject for us! i know that all too well myself! but i m not sure you ve really answered my question about how you actually always work together as a unit. i think we never ask the question when we make our pictures, ever. and it s also true that we buy a newspaper in the morning. we watch television to check on the enemy at 6:00 every day and we know that, out there, there is a huge battle in every single aspect of human life, country to country, company to company, politician to pol so it s an enormous. sorry, what s this battle? the world. it s a huge battle, yeah? but who do you regard as combatants? no, i mean, countries are fighting countries and people and companies are fighting companies. like democracy. we didn t want to be like that. we didn t want to be fighting. democracy and totalitarian countries
is that when you were growing up and entering adulthood, homosexuality was still criminalised in the uk. oh. yes. 67 was decriminalisation. that s chimed exactly with our time leaving st martin s. i mean, we thought we were living in the centre of the universe in 67. so, you couldn t be public about the fact you are not just an artistic duo, you were life partners. we didn t think of it in those terms. we don t really believe so much in the male and female, or the gay or the straight. we think of a more general, more human.. it was more sexy, yeah. but it was an amazing battle. it was an amazing battle from the art critics, non stop attacking us for being two men together. it was all over the world and was extraordinary. but we won. we won. you think there was a deep seated prejudice inside the art world? which you would think, frankly, has a reputation for being more open minded, more liberal. a lot of closet gay bashers, mostly.