Queer Britain

Last updated

Queer Britain
Queer Britain, proposed UK national LGBTQ+ museum.png
Queer Britain
EstablishedMay 2022
Location2 Granary Square, Kings Cross, London
Coordinates 51°32′09″N0°07′26″W / 51.5357°N 0.1239°W / 51.5357; -0.1239
Type Museum
DirectorJoseph Galliano-Doig [1]
CuratorJennifer Shearman [2]
Website queerbritain.org.uk

Queer Britain is a museum of British LGBTQ history and culture located in Kings Cross, London. It is the first dedicated LGBTQ museum in the UK. [3] The museum consists of three connected galleries plus a shop and occupies the ground floor of 2 Granary Square, a building owned by the Art Fund, with office and studio space on lower ground. Admission is free. [4]

Contents

History

Queer Britain was founded in February 2018 [5] by Joseph Galliano-Doig, a former editor of Gay Times , and Ian Mehrtens. [6] It was registered as a charity in September 2019. [7] Joseph was awarded an MBE for services to Heritage, to Charity, and to Diversity and Inclusion in the 2024 New Year's Honours List. [8]

Exhibitions

Prior to gaining its own location, Queer Britain staged occasional exhibitions in temporary locations. In 2018 it staged an exhibition Our Naked Skin in collaboration with the Salisbury Arts Centre including a filmed oral history project, Virtually Queer. [9] In summer 2019 it staged an exhibition on Chosen Family in Mercer Street Showrooms, Covent Garden. [10] [11]

Queer Britain opened as a physical museum on May 5, 2022, in advance of the 50th anniversary of Britain's first gay pride march. [12] The introductory display, Welcome to Queer Britain, consisted of material from the museum's photography archive. [13] The first full exhibition, We Are Queer Britain, occupying all three galleries, opened in July. [14] The exhibition won Best Small Museum Project 2022, awarded by The Museums Association as part of their Museums Change Lives campaign. [15] When not on display, the museum's collection is housed at the Bishopsgate Institute. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

Polari is a form of slang or cant historically used in Britain by some actors, circus and fairground showmen, professional wrestlers, merchant navy sailors, criminals and sex workers, and particularly among the gay subculture. There is some debate about its origins, but it can be traced to at least the 19th century and possibly as early as the 16th century. Polari has a long-standing connection with Punch and Judy street puppeteers, who traditionally used it to converse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Julien</span> British artist and film director (born 1960)

Sir Isaac Julien is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

LGBT art in Singapore, or queer art in Singapore, broadly refers to modern and contemporary visual art practices that draw on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender+ imagery and themes, addressing topics such as LGBT rights, history and culture in Singapore. Such queer art practices are often by Singaporean or Singapore-based visual artists and curators who identify as LGBT+ or queer.

LGBT History Month is an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the gay rights and related civil rights movements. It was founded in 1994 by Missouri high-school history teacher Rodney Wilson. LGBT History Month provides role models, builds community, and represents a civil rights statement about the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community. As of 2022, LGBT History Month is a month-long celebration that is specific to Australia, Canada, Cuba, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art</span> Visual art museum in New York City, US

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (LLMA), formerly the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, is a visual art museum in SoHo, Lower Manhattan, New York City. It mainly collects, preserves and exhibits visual arts created by LGBTQ artists or art about LGBTQ+ themes, issues, and people. The museum, operated by the Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation, offers exhibitions year-round in numerous locations and owns more than 22,000 objects, including, paintings, drawings, photography, prints and sculpture. The foundation was awarded Museum status by the New York State Board of Regents in 2011 and was formally accredited as a museum in 2016. The museum is a member of the American Alliance of Museums and operates pursuant to their guidelines. As of 2019, the LLMA was the only museum in the world dedicated to artwork documenting the LGBTQ experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GLBT Historical Society</span> American non-profit LGBT historical society

The GLBT Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of archival materials, artifacts and graphic arts relating to the history of LGBTQ people in the United States, with a focus on the LGBT communities of San Francisco and Northern California.

<span title="German-language text"><i lang="de">Schwules Museum</i></span> Museum of LGBT+ history in Berlin

The Schwules Museum in Berlin, Germany, is a museum and research centre with collections focusing on LGBTQ+ history and culture. It opened in 1985 and it was the first museum in the world dedicated to gay history.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) affirming denominations in Judaism are Jewish religious groups that welcome LGBTQ members and do not consider homosexuality to be a sin. They include both entire Jewish denominations, as well as individual synagogues. Some are composed mainly of non-LGBT members and also have specific programs to welcome LGBT people, while others are composed mainly of LGBT members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OutHistory</span>

OutHistory.org is a public website about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and heterosexual history, with a non-exclusive focus on the US and Canada. Historians contributing to the site are especially interested in documenting under-represented histories and fostering historical research that contributes to positive social change. The site features digital exhibitions on various topics of LGBTQ+ history, built from primary sources and contextualized by brief texts written by guest scholars, who have curated each exhibition. A “bookshelf” features books written by historians on LGBTQ+ topics. OutHistory is increasingly being used by teachers to introduce students to primary sources and historical analysis relating to the LGBTQ+ past.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ culture in Liverpool</span>

The LGBT community in Liverpool, England is one of the largest in the United Kingdom and has a recorded history since the 18th century. Many historic LGBT firsts and pioneering moments in the LGBT rights movement either took place in Liverpool or were achieved by citizens of the city.

The LGBT community in London is one of the largest within Europe. LGBT culture of London, England, is centred on Old Compton Street in Soho. There are also LGBT pubs and restaurants across London in Haggerston, Dalston and Vauxhall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Power</span> British LGBT activist

Lisa Power MBE is a British sexual health and LGBT rights campaigner. She was a volunteer for Lesbian & Gay Switchboard and Secretary General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. She co-founded the Pink Paper and Stonewall, later becoming Policy Director at the Terrence Higgins Trust. She was the first openly LGBT person to speak at the United Nations and continues to work and volunteer as an LGBT+ and sexual health activist in Wales with groups such as Fast Track Cymru and Pride Cymru.

Pearl Alcock was a club owner and artist, best known as a British outsider artist.

Ajamu X is a British artist, curator, archivist and activist. He is best known for his fine art photography which explores same-sex desire, and the Black male body, and his work as an archivist and activist to document the lives and experiences of black LGBTQ people in the United Kingdom (UK).

LGBT culture in Leeds, England, involves an active community of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender/transsexual. A BBC News Online article published in 2012 stated that, while Leeds City Council has not published statistics relating to the number of LGBT residents, the figure can be estimated at 10% of the overall population, which currently suggests a total of at least 77,000. The tenth year of the Leeds Pride march and celebration, held in 2016, was attended by over 40,000 people.

The Casino was a gay and lesbian dance club, café, pool hall, and card room located in Pioneer Square in Seattle. It was opened by Joseph Bellotti in 1930 in the basement of the building where The Double Header was located. It was known as one of the places most welcoming of gays on the West Coast.

Queer art, also known as LGBT+ art or queer aesthetics, broadly refers to modern and contemporary visual art practices that draw on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and various non-heterosexual, non-cisgender imagery and issues. While by definition there can be no singular "queer art", contemporary artists who identify their practices as queer often call upon "utopian and dystopian alternatives to the ordinary, adopt outlaw stances, embrace criminality and opacity, and forge unprecedented kinships and relationships." Queer art is also occasionally very much about sex and the embracing of unauthorised desires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norena Shopland</span> Welsh heritage and LGBTQ+ historian

Norena Shopland is a Welsh historian and writer who specialises in (LGBTQ+) research and history. She has been highlighted as a Welsh LGBTQ+ person of significance, and she gives talks, lectures and workshops on Welsh heritage and LGBT+ history. She has organised, curated and consulted on exhibitions and events within the heritage sector in Wales.

References

  1. "OUR TEAM | Queer Britain". queerbritain.org.uk.
  2. "OUR TEAM | Queer Britain". queerbritain.org.uk.
  3. "The New York Times". The New York Times, 4 August 2022.
  4. "Queer British history and culture to be displayed and celebrated at new London museum". NBC News.
  5. "Queer Britain museum 'an overdue resource'". the Guardian. 28 February 2018.
  6. "Inside Queer Britain, The UK's First National LGBTQ+ Museum". HuffPost UK. 5 May 2022.
  7. "QUEER BRITAIN MUSEUM LTD, Fundraising Regulator".
  8. Gordon-Farleigh, Neve (29 December 2023). "New Year Honours 2024:". BBC News.
  9. "HISTORY 2018 Virtually Queer launch | Queer Britain". queerbritain.org.uk.
  10. "HISTORY 2019 Chosen Family | Queer Britain". queerbritain.org.uk.
  11. "Levi's teams with Queer Britain on new exhibition Chosen Family". Creative Review. 18 June 2019.
  12. "Not one but two LGBTQ cultural spaces to open in London this spring". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 3 May 2022.
  13. Hernandez, Marcus J. (10 May 2022). "UK welcomes its first LGBTQ Museum: Queer Britain". GayCities Wanderlust Blog.
  14. "Queer Britain prepares to welcome visitors to King's Cross site". Museums Association.
  15. "The Museums Association Museums Change Lives Awards 2023". The Museums Association, 3 November 2022.
  16. "London's LGBTQ+ Museum Opens In May". Londonist. 11 April 2022.