To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, the Arts Council and four UK galleries have collaborated to create a special exhibition called Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender And Identity. After debuting in Liverpool, the show is this month arriving in Birmingham. What's On spoke to its curator, Lisa Beauchamp, about what visitors can expect...
From the first criminalisation of male homosexual acts during the reign of Henry VIII, to the passing of the 2013 Marriage Equality bill, legal and social attitudes towards homosexuality in Britain have changed dramatically over the last 500 years. As the UK celebrates 50 years since partial decriminalisation in 1967, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) explores the many ways in which art has been influenced by these shifting views.
Forming part of a three-year national partnership between the Arts Council Collection and four UK galleries, Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender And Identity comes to Birmingham fresh from its debut at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery. But as curator Lisa Beauchamp explains, it’s not simply been a case of transferring the exhibition wholesale to BMAG.
“Obviously it’s going to feel very different in our Gas Hall space,” she says, “but we’ve also reimagined the show for Birmingham audiences, adding in new loans and items from our own collection, developing an engagement programme and thinking about the narrative of the show within a regional context.”
Among the pieces joining the exhibition here will be Grayson Perry’s Claire’s Coming Out Dress, which he designed and wore to mark his entry into the art world as a transvestite. On loan from Nottingham Castle, the dress will be shown alongside Perry’s 1996 pot, Who Am I?, from BMAG’s own collection, marking different stages in the artist’s personal journey.
“We really want to think about the fact that sexuality and gender aren’t the only issues at play here,” explains Lisa. “It’s also about how you express your identity as well. Claire’s Coming Out Dress is based on the sort of dress a young girl might have worn when Grayson Perry was growing up in the ’60s, and part of it is about questioning our ideas about gendering children. Up until the 19th century, young boys would have worn frocks as well, which begs the question of when that came to be considered wrong.”
Local artists also get a look in, notably with three prints by Birmingham photographer Vanley Burke, capturing scenes from a Pride demonstration called in protest against the infamous 1988 Section 28 Act.
Other work has been included to look at under-represented themes or groups, in keeping with the diversity of Birmingham’s cultural make-up. Works by Charlotte Prodger, Sarah Lucas and Margaret Harrison speak to women’s experiences, and Beauchamp is also mindful of the importance of BAME (black, Asian, and minority ethnic) representation. Changes have been brought about in consultation with local LGBT community groups, drawing on feedback from the Liverpool version of the exhibition.
“There are a whole range of community groups involved, but the main two I’ve been working with are Ageing Better, which is an LGBT group for the over-50s, and Unmuted, which is for BAME LGBT people. Over the summer we went with them on a trip to the Walker Art Gallery, because at that point we were still in the developmental stages and we really wanted to get their thoughts and feelings on the show.
“What’s interesting is that there were slightly contrasting views from the people who could remember pre-1967 and those who couldn’t. The Ageing Better group felt that we needed to explain the context for 1967 more fully, because you can’t expect everyone to know what that is anymore. That’s partly why we’ve included some Francis Bacon works from 1956/7.”
Visitors, Lisa says, should notice a palpable shift between the works from before and after the change in the law, moving from veiled and coded explorations of sexuality to much more explicit depictions as time went on. Fleshing out this historical context will be a brand new Gallery Trail running alongside the exhibition, taking in 25 works located throughout the museum.
“It’s like I’m curating another show! But I think what’s really nice is that while Coming Out mainly looks at 1967 onwards, the trail allows us to see how these themes have been resonant and relevant in people’s lives throughout history. It will start in the Round Room with a coin showing a profile of Henry VIII, and end up with a series of contemporary art interventions in our Modern British Gallery.”
Despite some differing opinions, there was nevertheless a shared sense by all involved that the overall feeling of the exhibition should be celebratory, despite the difficult subject matter it covers. To this end, work will be presented in a manner at once lively and laid-back, the Gas Hall filled with ambient sound and vibrant splashes of colour inspired by Gilbert Baker’s original 1978 Pride flag.
Moreover, there’ll be an exciting programme of shows and activities to enjoy throughout the run, starting with an action-packed launch developed with SHOUT Festival. Specially commissioned drag performances, workshops and rainbow crafts for kids are among the things to look forward to on opening day. Later in the run, there’ll also be opportunities to take part in a Polari workshop, as well as a ‘Drag & Draw’ session, a twist on the gallery’s popular ‘Drink & Draw’ series, that will see drag queens posing for sketches.
Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender And Identity is at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from Saturday 2 December until Sunday 15 April.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, the Arts Council and four UK galleries have collaborated to create a special exhibition called Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender And Identity. After debuting in Liverpool, the show is this month arriving in Birmingham. What's On spoke to its curator, Lisa Beauchamp, about what visitors can expect...
From the first criminalisation of male homosexual acts during the reign of Henry VIII, to the passing of the 2013 Marriage Equality bill, legal and social attitudes towards homosexuality in Britain have changed dramatically over the last 500 years. As the UK celebrates 50 years since partial decriminalisation in 1967, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG) explores the many ways in which art has been influenced by these shifting views.
Forming part of a three-year national partnership between the Arts Council Collection and four UK galleries, Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender And Identity comes to Birmingham fresh from its debut at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery. But as curator Lisa Beauchamp explains, it’s not simply been a case of transferring the exhibition wholesale to BMAG.
“Obviously it’s going to feel very different in our Gas Hall space,” she says, “but we’ve also reimagined the show for Birmingham audiences, adding in new loans and items from our own collection, developing an engagement programme and thinking about the narrative of the show within a regional context.”
Among the pieces joining the exhibition here will be Grayson Perry’s Claire’s Coming Out Dress, which he designed and wore to mark his entry into the art world as a transvestite. On loan from Nottingham Castle, the dress will be shown alongside Perry’s 1996 pot, Who Am I?, from BMAG’s own collection, marking different stages in the artist’s personal journey.
“We really want to think about the fact that sexuality and gender aren’t the only issues at play here,” explains Lisa. “It’s also about how you express your identity as well. Claire’s Coming Out Dress is based on the sort of dress a young girl might have worn when Grayson Perry was growing up in the ’60s, and part of it is about questioning our ideas about gendering children. Up until the 19th century, young boys would have worn frocks as well, which begs the question of when that came to be considered wrong.”
Local artists also get a look in, notably with three prints by Birmingham photographer Vanley Burke, capturing scenes from a Pride demonstration called in protest against the infamous 1988 Section 28 Act.
Other work has been included to look at under-represented themes or groups, in keeping with the diversity of Birmingham’s cultural make-up. Works by Charlotte Prodger, Sarah Lucas and Margaret Harrison speak to women’s experiences, and Beauchamp is also mindful of the importance of BAME (black, Asian, and minority ethnic) representation. Changes have been brought about in consultation with local LGBT community groups, drawing on feedback from the Liverpool version of the exhibition.
“There are a whole range of community groups involved, but the main two I’ve been working with are Ageing Better, which is an LGBT group for the over-50s, and Unmuted, which is for BAME LGBT people. Over the summer we went with them on a trip to the Walker Art Gallery, because at that point we were still in the developmental stages and we really wanted to get their thoughts and feelings on the show.
“What’s interesting is that there were slightly contrasting views from the people who could remember pre-1967 and those who couldn’t. The Ageing Better group felt that we needed to explain the context for 1967 more fully, because you can’t expect everyone to know what that is anymore. That’s partly why we’ve included some Francis Bacon works from 1956/7.”
Visitors, Lisa says, should notice a palpable shift between the works from before and after the change in the law, moving from veiled and coded explorations of sexuality to much more explicit depictions as time went on. Fleshing out this historical context will be a brand new Gallery Trail running alongside the exhibition, taking in 25 works located throughout the museum.
“It’s like I’m curating another show! But I think what’s really nice is that while Coming Out mainly looks at 1967 onwards, the trail allows us to see how these themes have been resonant and relevant in people’s lives throughout history. It will start in the Round Room with a coin showing a profile of Henry VIII, and end up with a series of contemporary art interventions in our Modern British Gallery.”
Despite some differing opinions, there was nevertheless a shared sense by all involved that the overall feeling of the exhibition should be celebratory, despite the difficult subject matter it covers. To this end, work will be presented in a manner at once lively and laid-back, the Gas Hall filled with ambient sound and vibrant splashes of colour inspired by Gilbert Baker’s original 1978 Pride flag.
Moreover, there’ll be an exciting programme of shows and activities to enjoy throughout the run, starting with an action-packed launch developed with SHOUT Festival. Specially commissioned drag performances, workshops and rainbow crafts for kids are among the things to look forward to on opening day. Later in the run, there’ll also be opportunities to take part in a Polari workshop, as well as a ‘Drag & Draw’ session, a twist on the gallery’s popular ‘Drink & Draw’ series, that will see drag queens posing for sketches.
Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender And Identity is at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from Saturday 2 December until Sunday 15 April.