METAMORPHOSIS: A QUEER ART AND LITERATURE EXHIBITION
ART EXHIBITION:
As you scroll, you will see incredible work created by the queer people of Suffolk and we hope that you enjoy them as much as we do. We hope that you managed to pop into The Hold from 8th November to 22nd to see the work in person, but if not, we are delighted to share them here with you!
Beyond the Mask
Kit Dickinson
This piece is a culmination of ideas about identity in general and Kit’s identity in particular. They feel like they have always worn a mask; partly due to neurodivergence and partly because exploring your gender isn’t as acceptable a thing as it should be. Kit is trying to embrace parts of their being which could be described as masculine. They are trying to grow out from behind the mask into the person Kit feels most comfortable being.
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Tender
Patrick Baker
A charcoal study of two older LGBT role models. Finding love and now confronting together the challenges the passage of time inevitably brings us all. Here a quiet embrace and silent acknowledgement that support will be there, no matter what.
Pansy
Patrick Baker
This artwork reflects Patrick’s personal journey as a gay man, exploring their metamorphosis and the process of embracing their authentic self. The title ‘Pansy’ alludes to a derogatory term commonly used to target gay individuals during their youth. By reclaiming this past and asserting their identity, Patrick aims to spread a positive message of self-acceptance and pride. The piece incorporates elements of childhood photos, symbolising the exploration of a repressed past and the journey towards embracing one’s true identity. Through this artwork Patrick wishes to convey a message of growth, to encourage others to celebrate their true identities and to promote a sense of empowerment and acceptance.
Apollo
Bo Hirst
This piece is a metaphor for being trans using kintsugi pottery methods.
Patchwork Trans Flag
August Riley
The inspiration for this piece came out of a desire to repurpose August’s dead clothes into a symbol of her transness. Living under a conservative government that is hostile towards trans and LGBTQIA+ people, flags are an important way for us to express our existence and thus resist the current hateful narrative. Her flag is made predominately from her old jeans, shirts, and hareem pants that she used to wear before coming out. It is a personal symbol of August’s journey and a reminder that, often, we must first disassemble what we have to form the lives we wish to lead.
A Collection of Photographs
August RIiley
This series sprung out of August’s attendance of Queer Spirit, an LGBTQIA+ festival aimed at celebrating queer community and spirituality. She is a firm believer that documenting queer community is vital, as our narratives have been consistently erased from history and culture. Documentation enables control of our narratives. Since she was a teenager, she has always been romantic for black and white film photography and is always her medium of choice.
A Collection of Photographs
August Riley
This series sprung out of August’s attendance of Queer Spirit, an LGBTQIA+ festival aimed at celebrating queer community and spirituality. She is a firm believer that documenting queer community is vital, as our narratives have been consistently erased from history and culture. Documentation enables control of our narratives. Since she was a teenager, she has always been romantic for black and white film photography and is always her medium of choice.
A Collection of Photographs
August Riley
This series sprung out of August’s attendance of Queer Spirit, an LGBTQIA+ festival aimed at celebrating queer community and spirituality. She is a firm believer that documenting queer community is vital, as our narratives have been consistently erased from history and culture. Documentation enables control of our narratives. Since she was a teenager, she has always been romantic for black and white film photography and is always her medium of choice.
A Collection of Photographs
August Riley
This series sprung out of August’s attendance of Queer Spirit, an LGBTQIA+ festival aimed at celebrating queer community and spirituality. She is a firm believer that documenting queer community is vital, as our narratives have been consistently erased from history and culture. Documentation enables control of our narratives. Since she was a teenager, she has always been romantic for black and white film photography and is always her medium of choice.
A Collection of Photographs
August Riley
This series sprung out of August’s attendance of Queer Spirit, an LGBTQIA+ festival aimed at celebrating queer community and spirituality. She is a firm believer that documenting queer community is vital, as our narratives have been consistently erased from history and culture. Documentation enables control of our narratives. Since she was a teenager, she has always been romantic for black and white film photography and is always her medium of choice.
Elizabeth
Morgan Brown
A poem and sculpture inspired by the story behind the painting ‘Ophelia’ by Sir John Everett Millais.
Chrysalis
Francesca Mulvey
The message of this art piece is closely linked to a story about Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, that Fran wrote for an upcoming queer anthology called Suffolk Pride: We are the One in Five, which will be published in November 2023. In 2022, not long after the first series adaptation had been released on Netflix, Fran was rewatching it one day when, during a particular episode, she suddenly started crying; she had always related to Nick in certain ways, ever since her first read of the first volume, and after several rereads and rewatches Fran had finally realised why that was. She was bisexual. It was something she thought she had known about herself, deep down, for a long time but never fully considered the possibility that she might be. The butterfly depicted in this painting represents Fran, the chrysalis, the unseen obstacles to being fully and truly herself, and Heartstopper is what brought her fully out of it.
Fun Fuck, Fuck Fun
Philip V Williams
A double sided hanging textile work inviting conversation and discussion around ‘hook up’ culture and makes reference to clothing brand logos and slogans, hinting at items that are considered pristine, fashionable and desirable, juxtaposed with the badly made, unfinished and uncomfortable.
Kintsugi
Ree Thomas
When thinking about what metamorphosis means to Ree, they initially thought about the evolution, growth and changes that happens to us all through life. We often start life off as one person, evolving into many different versions through the years. Ree thought about their own life and who they are now, they came to reaise that they always saw themselves as broken. Its only recently that Ree has realised there is beauty in the brokenness. In Japan, they fix broken crockery with gild (called Kintsugi), making it more valuable and unique than before it was broken. This piece, which Ree has called Kintsugi, is a representation of their growth through the years and the person they are now.
Chrysalis
James Welton
This piece was made in response to the commonly repeated but untrue idea that being transgender is unnatural. James wanted to show his transition as a natural part of an ecosystem, as their chrysalis transforms them into their final self. The bottle itself contained his first month’s supply of testosterone and allowed them to begin their medical transition. James chose the swallowtail butterfly because it is a fenland native making its home in the Suffolk broads and Cambridgeshire fens somewhere that is close to home to them.
No Need To Be Anybody but Yourself
Denda Divis
At times, we become entangled in our aspirations, in the perceptions others hold of us. What we must come to understand is that in this very moment, we are precisely the individuals we are destined to be, and it is imperative that we extend affection to ourselves, just as we are, unconditionally and wholeheartedly.