For the second year running, University of Westminster students and staff have collaborated with The Arts Project in a series of events to mark LGBTQ+ History Month at St Pancras Hospital.
The collaboration opened with the launch of the Loudest Whispers art exhibition on 9 February. The opening was attended by an estimated 300 people and featured a powerful installation in tribute to the AIDS memorial garden at London Lighthouse. This work was created by Ekaterina Fedorova and Zhun (Victoria) Yu, both students on the Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture with Professional Experience MA course. The exhibition also featured artwork by Eden Leeds, a student on the Fine Art Mixed Media BA Honours course. Loudest Whispers is available to visit at the Gallery Space at St Pancras Hospital until 10 May 2024.
In addition to the students exhibiting, Lucas Blackwood from the Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture MA, Steph Foley and Elaine Renninger from the Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture with Professional Experience MA, and Eliza Rai from the Biomedical Science BSC Honours course made contributions to curating the exhibition and to running the launch event. Grace Stuttard, a student on the Film BA Honours course designed posters for upcoming events in further collaboration with The Arts Project.
Professor Pippa Catterall, who was one of the speakers at the launch event, commented: “It’s wonderful to be building on this partnership and developing such an exciting relationship between the University and a vibrant community arts organisation. I am so pleased that Peter Herbert of The Arts Project could not praise their work enough and I look forward to involving a whole load of other Westminster students in our other upcoming joint activities, culminating in the second Loudest Whispers LGBTQ+ Short Film Festival on 6 April.”
Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture with Professional Experience MA student Zhun (Victoria) Yu said: “Our installation’s inspiration was from the London Light House Memorial Garden. Throughout the HIV/AIDS crisis, the London Lighthouse was a symbol of hope. Our installation focuses on the growing of seeds; we witness how seeds gradually root into the soil and eventually sprout. This process reflects how HIV/AIDS medical treatments have grown, and how doctors and patients have found new solutions. We will never forget the tragedy that happened before, but we will keep carrying on and growing towards a brighter future.”
Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture with Professional Experience MA student Ekaterina Fedorova said: “I am very grateful to the university and Professor Pippa Catterall for the opportunity to participate in the exhibition. We gained new experience in planning and creating an installation, during which we received great help from the advice and suggestions of Pippa and the curator of the exhibition, Peter Herbert. As students planning to work in the field of museums and galleries, we learned more about the process of creating an exhibition as its participants, which will be useful to us in the future. I would also like to say how wonderful it is that the university is giving students the opportunity to participate in an exhibition in honour of LGBT+ History Month, which would be unimaginable in my home country.”
This event contributed towards the Reduced Inequalities (10) development goal of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were adopted by the University of Westminster to help make the University a more sustainable, responsible and inclusive place to live, work and study.
Learn more about Art, Design, and Visual Culture courses at the University of Westminster.
