I distinctly remember the first time I heard Prince. I was a dreamy, artistic child growing up in 80s rural Australia, feeling completely out of place. One day, I turned towards the cassette radio in my bedroom, hearing something totally different to the rock music I had grown up with – something electric and alive. It was Prince. My body moved. From that moment, he became my secret soul friend, his music carrying a powerful mix of sexuality and spirituality that I didn’t yet have the language for.
My love for Prince remained as I grew up. I moved to New York to pursue a career in the arts, but never quite fully managed it, ending up as an arts administrator. Throughout my life I had wanted to see Prince live, but always hesitated. When he died in 2016, I was in a subway station. I read the news on my phone and physically stumbled backwards, catching myself against the tiled wall. The grief was overwhelming and immediate.
Within weeks of his death, the idea of visiting Minneapolis, Prince’s home, began to take hold. I booked a ticket. From the moment I got in the taxi at the airport, people began telling me their Prince stories. I visited his estate, Paisley Park, where strangers had gathered at the fence, leaving offerings and speaking to one another with refreshing openness. The whole city felt enchanted by this shared love.
I returned to Minneapolis again and again. About a year after Prince’s death, I quit my job and left my life in New York. I shifted my PhD research entirely towards Prince and his legacy. I started collecting stories, which became The People’s Museum for Prince, a grassroots museum tracing his transformational impact through the memories of those whose lives he touched.
Around the same time, I met a man while housesitting and we fell in love. The relationship ended intensely, and I left the city, eventually returning to Australia during the pandemic. Now, at 55, I live between Australia and Minneapolis, continuing the museum and making films, including a documentary short, Dearly Beloved, about my journey connecting with Prince.
