Historically, the concept of Flamboyance may perhaps have encouraged misguided visions of the in-yer-face, the out-there, the over-the-top: a term often deployed to denigrate, above and beyond its uses to celebrate. But from its origins in art history to its symbolic representation and adoption in protest, the concept of flamboyance has played a huge role in crafting our cultural, social and political histories.

Writer Jack Parlett takes us behind these multiple meanings, representations and associations to examine flamboyance’s fundamental nature to human existence, drawing on an eclectic array of works from Gothic Architecture to the music of Elton John. It is also a deeply personal coming-of-age story: of learning to understand oneself better and burning brightly at the same time…

In conversation with Birmingham-based writer and journalist, Philip Ellis.