Queer Futures – Exhibition

A group exhibition of film, photography, sculpture, and print by seven LGBTQI+ artists from Central and Eastern Europe now living in the UK, curated by Zula Rabikowska. About This group exhibition brings together artworks that span six countries, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Romania, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Hungary, and include documentary and staged photography, moving image and film, sculpture and installation, and self-published print. Each artist has built a life in the UK after leaving a place where being openly LGBTQI+ might have carried real risk. Stories of migration, crossing borders and escape are interwoven with experiences of love, celebration and fear. The works are drawn from long-term personal archives and collaborative projects, including analogue and pinhole photography processes, an installation informed by Romanian and Moldovan folklore, self-portraiture, and documentary film addressing forced migration and LGBTQI+ life on the margins of Central Asia. An experimental film exploring the bordering of queerness, grief and transgender identity in contemporary Poland; a gay couple's escape from Belarus and their rebuilding of a life together in London; queer and lesbian life across Lithuania and the UK, built through decades of close, collaborative relationships; a Ukrainian artist's work challenging flattened representations of refugees, alongside a documentary account of an older LGBTQI+ couple surviving on the margins of Kazakhstan, a Hungarian artist's departure from Budapest after a religious upbringing left little room for who they were. The exhibition also celebrates what has been built since: chosen family and sisterhood; portraits of lovers and friends; Romanian folklore reworked into queer and trans myth-making and speculative futures; photography and moving image challenging inherited ideas of community, love and care. By bringing in a myriad of voices and experiences, the exhibition seeks to create a safe space to explore queer and trans experiences from across the region, reflect on migration, and contribute to a more welcoming, compassionate future. Additional events in this exhibition programme: Queer Futures: Artist Talk Moving Minds: Open Mic (with Bold Mellon) Moving Minds: Journaling & Collage Workshop (with Bold Mellon) Embroidery workshop with Eve Gil Read more Toggle Installation Prints Sculpture Photography Mixed media Film / Video