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, we can not recommend it more! Clearly the most professional Queer Museum in the world for now.
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.
Queer Creativity
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.
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.”
Director of Queer Britain
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, artifacts, 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.
Here is their website: https://queerbritain.org.uk
