The NGV will celebrate the stories and perspectives of our queer communities in a landmark new exhibition set to open in 2022. Queer is the most comprehensive Australian survey of art relating to queer themes to date, with more than 300 works pulled from the NGV collection to be exhibited across five galleries at the NGV International.
Works on show will reflect the many ways the word "queer" can be used, from a representation of gender and sexuality to a philosophy and political movement. Naturally, you can expect works who identify as queer, but also works from artists who were not able to do so safely in their own time. There will also be works that aren't from artists who aren't part of the queer community, but whose works relate to queer histories.
Some of the exhibitions stand out works include 'The Metropolitan' by fashion and performance great Leigh Bowery; 'St Sebastian at the Tree' by renowned German renaissance painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer; 'The Kiss' by Peter Behrens; 'Where's Mickey?' by Destiny Deacon; and 'The Letter' by Agnes Goodsir.
Historically, the voices and stories of those who are queer have been sanitised if not outright ignored. Queer will make a point to highlight this – while the exhibition will not present a full history of queer art, it will reflect on the gaps in the history it does present.
Queer opens at the NGV International on March 10, 2022.
