Working in partnership with Division of Labour, the exhibition will show works of Anthony Luvera, Stefan Ruiz, Sidnay Banks and Zanele Muholi. Exploring notions of identity and sexuality the works focus on how LGBT people are represented in society. Visual narratives play a part in constructing the roles we make for ourselves as well as those we are constructed for us. 

Artists

Anthony Luvera / Not going shopping (2013-2014)In June 2013, Anthony Luvera was invited to collaborate with lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in Brighton to create work about being queer for Queer in Brighton. While the first same sex weddings in March 2014 may be a great step forward for the rights of queer people in the UK, LGBT individuals still remain largely invisible or misrepresented in the public sphere. The prospect of creating this work seemed to Luvera to offer a useful way to further his inquiry into participation and self-representation with groups of marginalized individuals, and at the same time provide an opportunity to confront his own views of queerness as a gay man.

Stefan Ruiz / San Francisco Berlin – 2011In photographer Stefan Ruiz's San Francisco Berlin series, large-format portraits depict gay men dressed up for fetish-themed events in two cities that have played pivotal roles in defining gay male aesthetics. Shot in an improvised street studio, Ruiz's pictures are documentary in feel, their subjects captured against blank backgrounds, leveling steady, implacable gazes at the viewer. With texts drawn from interviews with some of the subjects, and an introduction by Chris Boot (who curated the "Gay Men Play" exhibition for the New York Photo Festival in 2009), San Francisco Berlin is both a document of extreme fashion and a serious consideration of contemporary gay sexual identity.

Zanele Muholi / Faces and Phases 2006 – 2014
A self-titled visual activist, Zanele Muholi’s black and white portraits offer an insight into black LGBTI identity and politics in post-apartheid South Africa. Emphasising a conceptual and personal approach, the uncompromising images and accompanying first-person testimonies reflect the impact of homophobia, discrimination and violence, most notably the 'curative' rape of black gay women, which often results in murder. Muholi’s archive of photographs forms an important force in female gay activism.




Sydnay Banks / The Condition of Being Oneself and not Another 2014-2015
Sydnay Banks is a visual artist who works with found imagery to construct new narratives. She uses appropriation to question the construction of identity, reflecting on personal experience and how she feels represented by others. Working with video footage, collage and photography to create a multilayered approach to her sexuality.