Guts Gallery wants to “disrupt” with its new show on LGBTQIA+ identity

From 9 June, Guts Gallery will invite audiences to Saints and Sinners, a group show exploring what it means to be LGBTQIA+ “in an age where we increasingly see the physical closure of safe spaces”, says a release. The goal of the show is to disrupt, compelling audiences to reckon with past and present-day injustices faced by the community, as attacks on LGBTQIA+ people and queer expression accelerate globally – from proposed changes to the Equality Act and beyond. The show will present artists who “refuse to be silenced”.

Exhibiting creatives include multimedia artist Shadi Al-Atallah, known for their expressive figurative paintings, Juan Arango Palacios, who creates vibrant, sparkling works on migration, identity and queerness, and Ivie Bartlett, the photographer and artist whose portfolio includes documentations of queer community. The exhibition will also feature Hilary Harkness, Peter Hujar, Doron Langberg, Lío Mehiel x Wynne Neilly, Sergio Miguel, Samantha Nye, Catherine Opie, Elsa Rouy, Jakob Rowlinson, Ara Tucker and Rafał Zajko.

Among the works shown will be a project from actor and artist Lío Mehiel, who recently starred in Mutt, artist and sculptor Holly Silius and Wynne Neilly, the photographer behind Elliot Page’s Time cover. The creatives have collaborated on a series of images shot in Bombay Beach, California, an area known for its toxic atmosphere which has affected the health of local residents for years. A release says the series of images “explore the relationship between the fight for body autonomy and the fight against climate collapse under capitalism”.

The exhibition will run until 7 July. On 29 June, Guts Gallery and Queercircle will host an informal talk exploring queerness in the art world, from the barriers faced by LGBTQIA+ artists to the range of voices contributing to the contemporary art field.