About this event
We often present history as something intangible, certain, and trustworthy, but it is vital to remember that it’s actually rather fluid, in movement, and in the making. It didn’t just happen… It was recorded, filed, told, written, rewritten, and it carries the glaze and the biases of the ones who did this.
Very similarly in art history, women, queers and BIPOC seem to have been purposefully left aside. However, when we look at classical paintings from Michelangelo, we are struck by the pronounced queer desires that emanate from the depicted scenes. Via his paintings and many others, we can witness and have tangible proof that those desires have always existed. Art contributes to the making of LGBTQ history and while looking through the glass of art history we can imagine how our queer siblings used to live, love, gather, and were treated in society.
Where the personal is political, our bodies are also political; from what we post on the Internet to everything we type, we become part of history, forever leaving marks of our reality and of the present. Pink Stomping Boots is a show celebrating LGBT History Month with artists who are addressing social and political questions in varied tones, mediums, and colours.
Queer artists and queer art provide guidance in creating new models and new futures of being together. This is very much the case with the seven presented artists, all taking part in the making of queer art history. In their work, we can find the recent questions and debates which mark our time. In Ashton Attzs’ work, intersectionality is explored through queer joy and colourful design. Matthew Rimmer works with silicone water sculpture to explore intersex and trans identity supported by hormones and silicones protheses.
Jonathon Beaver’s creative practice reclaims the craft of stitching, with Are you a bit bent mate? They produced a laborious artwork composed of 14,000 stitches.
Photographer Yasmine Akim is known for their documentation of queer nightlife and portraiture of gender non-conformative figures. In recent years they have also documented emblematic political events such as Black Lives Matter and other protests, and their testimonial is a glimpse of History. Shadi Al-Atallah’s painting work explores connections between the Queer ballroom scene and folkloric dance traditions from African Diaspora communities in the Arabian Peninsula.
South African artists Llewellyn Mnguni’s projects Resilience shines the light on people who don’t fit into the typical norm of society, and Maria Vorobjova’s digital tapestry blends digital representation into a physical object, questioning the immateriality and notions of time.
There is no need to register for a ticket to the exhibition, you are welcome to simply come along to the Centre.
About the organiser:
Deen Atger (they/them) is a trans non-binary art curator and producer based in London. Their work mainly focuses on contemporary and new media art exploring notions of identity, gender and intersectionality at the junction of virtual worlds and technological innovations.
For Deen, art is a vector of dialogue, it is crossed by the story of those who make it, it can be observed as a multidimensional and inclusive manifestation of time and spaces of metamorphosis. This is how he builds his artistic propositions and exhibitions.
They are currently Artistic Programme Curator at Ugly Duck, an experimental creative venue and organisation that supports emerging, underrepresented and minority voices and artists in visual and performing arts.
At the same time, they collaborate with several organisations in East Africa (East African Soul Train) by creating artistic networks and online residences as well as with the magazine Agora Digital Art and the space Gut level in Sheffield.
Curated exhibitions: @Disturbance (2021), Anamorphic Waves, London (2019), (H)akt, London (2018), Real/Virtual, London (2017)
Selected programme: Franko B (2021), Performance Space (2021), Disorder Live Art (2019), Guts Gallery (2019), The Museum of Drug Policy (2018), Art in Flux (2018), Kinetica Art fair (2017)
@deen_atg
Accessibility
The Centre's accessibility statement is here.
Covid-19 safety
To keep our community safe, we request that all visitors take a lateral flow test before coming to the Centre and to please wear a mask unless exempt.