“I want people to be seen, to feel celebrated,” Joseph Galliano
The UK recently opened the doors of its first-ever LGBTQ+ museum, Queer Britain. With loads of history and stories about members of the LGBTQ+ community, the GCN team could not recommend it more!
The museum currently has a temporary opening display, ‘Welcome to Queer Britain,’ which shares incredible history from the museum’s collection. It is spread out over three rooms, each highlighting different aspects of the LGBTQ+ community.
Visitors will first enter a room with works from winners of Queer Britain’s initial contest with the theme ‘Queer Creativity.’ Sadie Lee’s incredible portrait of the performance artist David Hoyle is showcased as the winning piece of artwork. Runner-up Paul Harfleet also displays his work entitled ‘Cock of the Rock,’ which involves portraits of birds and individuals wearing corresponding outfits.
FIRST PRIZE ? of the Madame F Art Award goes to Sadie Lee!
Look again, it’s not a photograph, but a magnificent painting! Here’s what Sadie said about the work, a thread ? pic.twitter.com/T1Su85lqKc
— Queer Britain (@QueerBritain) December 7, 2021
The next exhibition is a beautiful group portrait called ‘Chosen Families.’ There are several unique and colorful pieces in this room that help tells the story of the gay rights movement. “LGBTQ+ people have often constructed their own ‘chosen families’, and draw strength, comfort, fun and support from them.”
The final room includes photographs from Allie Crewe which showcase ordinary people searching for, “narratives of survival, resilience, growth and change.”
We’re very proud to have @AllieCrewePhoto series ‘You Brought Your Own Light’ in our museum – winner BJP Portrait of Britain 2019.
We call ourselves Queer Britain because ‘Q’ is the most inclusive letter in the evolving LGBTQ+ umbrella. We reclaim it as a mark of pride ?️??️⚧️ pic.twitter.com/NTa4TK6PLz— Queer Britain (@QueerBritain) May 16, 2022
Director of Queer Britain, Joseph Galliano, says there is so much more in store for the museum. This summer, its entire exhibition will be open for display. It will come just in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UK’s first Pride parade.
“We’ll always be changing and adapting and putting on exhibitions that will address different community stories and different communities’ stories. Our next exhibition, however, is going to be a sort of flag in the sand for the kind of things that Queer Britain wants to do. It’ll be a cacophony of different community voices, artefacts, art objects, imagery and people,” he said.
The LGBTQ+ museum opened in May with the help of Queer Britain charity. It has been in the works since 2018 with the intention of opening in 2021, but the project was delayed to spring 2022.
The museum is located in King’s Cross, London, and is open from 12 until 6 pm Wednesday thru Sunday. Admission is free for the public, but donations are encouraged to maintain and preserve this incredible history.
© 2022 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
Support GCN
GCN has been a vital, free-of-charge information service for Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community since 1988.
During this global COVID pandemic, we like many other organisations have been impacted greatly in the way we can do business and produce. This means a temporary pause to our print publication and live events and so now more than ever we need your help to continue providing this community resource digitally.
GCN is a registered charity with a not-for-profit business model and we need your support. If you value having an independent LGBTQ+ media in Ireland, you can help from as little as €1.99 per month. Support Ireland’s free, independent LGBTQ+ media.
comments. Please sign in to comment.