Cathy's Art Diary

Intriguing exhibition at Somerset House looking at the Rukus! Archive, Europe's largest archive of Black LGBTQIA+ culture and history. The collection has been accumulated as a project founded by photographer Ajamu X and filmmaker Topher Campbell, who describe themselves as “two unruly Queers defying conventions of race and sexuality by taking up space without asking permission”. The dry yet often explicit work was cleverly displayed in themed groups echoing aspects of Black, gay love over the last 50 years. As the collection started with the founders’ own material it feels a bit focused on them but as more people contribute it will broaden out. It was a good example of how to order and display archive material which can be heavily text based. Closed 19 January 2025 Reviews Guardian Evening Standard  

Fabulous exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery looking at Queer pictures of men in the 20th century and the development of physique photography. The show was arranged around areas of London where men went who were seeking other men and looked at the aesthetics that developed there that were unique to the city. The show was so tender and was as much a history of Queer London as of the images. I found lots of wonderful stories I want to find out more about. I was intrigued to find photographs by Keith Vaughan, an artist I know quite well but I’d never come across the photographs. I was also delighted to find the work of Montague Glover as I’d seen a book by him years ago, which I loved, of photographs of soldiers and working men. I’ve just looked up the book and it’s now £280 second hand! Closes 12 June 2023  

I nteresting online lecture from the National Portrait Gallery for members looking at portraits of queer sitters in the collection. Tim Redfern, performance artist and gallery guide, took us through a selection of works which he said “inform and inspire my Queer life”. It was a personal selection with an interesting bias towards people who lived in Rye where he lives. My queer history knowledge is pretty good but I’d not realised that Henry James was gay and that E.F. Benson later lived in the same house, Lamb House, in Rye. Or that Radcliffe Hall had also lived in Rye. Away from the Kent town the talk began with James I and the Duke of Buckingham; the wonderful Edward Carpenter shown there painted by Roger Fry; the cross dressing Chevalier d’Eon who I have since listened to a full lecture about and Jan Morris. A nice touch was to compare a portrait of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears with a photograph of Christopher Bailey and Simon Woods with their daughter to show how attitude...

Interesting online discussion from Fitzwilliam Museum to mark on LBGTQ+ history month looking at how queer and female artists in the 19th and 20th centuries addressed and reacted to the Christian religion. Rebecca Burrell, co-curator of the “Women: Makers and Muses” at the museum was interviewed by Emma Torrens also from the museum. They started by discussing how St Sebastian became a queer icon both due to the muscled images of him but also as they were images of suffering and linked to plague at a time when homosexuality was seen by many an illness. The saint survived the act of being show by arrows which is usually depicted so he is seen as a someone who survived and flourished, despite being martyred later. The philosophy of this was discussed but I would have been interested to see more 19th century images of the subject to illustrate the point. They then went on to discuss women artists use of religious imagery in their work concentrating on Gwen John. I had never realised b...

Fun day at Charleston Farmhouse exploring hidden aspects of LGBT+ history as part of the Outing the Past an international celebration of the subject. I went to three of the talks starting with Jane Traies, telling the story of a possible Lesbian love triangle in Sussex, and not part of the Bloomsbury Group. She was a super speaker leading us to conclusions and them subverting what she’d told us. It was an interesting study in how we often can’t always know people’s stories from the past and whether we should of draw conclusions with modern sensibilities. Next was Andrew Lumsden talking about how the Labouchere family both enable Forster to wrote and held him back. I found this a bit tenuous but still fascinating to learn more about Forster, a regular visitor at Charleston. Finally I went to hear Dan Vo talk about queer curating in museums and galleries. Vo leads queer tours of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the National Museum of Wales. He t...

Moving exhibition   at the Whitechapel Gallery looking at the history of LGBTQ+ spaces in London from their growth in the 1980s to the current threats from developers. This was a small show but tightly packed with stories told through ephemera. It was a bit wordy and it took me while to slow down to read the long but interesting descriptions of the different clubs, cafes and community spaces. There were sections on the City of Quebec originally associated with gay Second World War airmen returning from war and the wonderfully named Women’s Anarchist Nuisance Café. I was fascinated by the story of the Joiners’ Arms, a gay pub which closed in 2015. The flag shown here flew outside it. It was closed due to a redevelopment of the area however Tower Hamlets has insisted that the developers grant a 25 year lease to an LGBTQ+ venue and contribute to the fit out costs. The show also included some contemporary art works my favourite of which was a board of leaflets collected...

Lovely exhibition at Brighton Museum using outfits and oral histories from LGBTQ people from Sussex from the 1960s to the present day to look at how individuals construct personal and collective identities. This was a lovely way of telling stories and there were some fascinating tales. From an outfit from the comedian Zoe Lyons, through the wedding outfits of a Lesbian couple, a jacket from David Raven aka Maisie Troilette to a selection of clubbing outfits. I liked the way the show including everyday clothes as well as club wear. I chose the outfit worn by Sophie Cook from election night 2017 when she hoped to be the first transgender MP as my picture for this entry. Closes Summer 2019