Anett Kiss, a student of the Museums, Galleries, and Contemporary Culture MA course has curated, along with co-curator Cas Bradbeer, They/Them/Their: Naturally Not Binary Exhibition which celebrated Queer ecology through art, representing ecofeminism, environmental justice, social ecology, LGBTQIA+ geography, trans and gender non-conforming experiences, and networks of support. The exhibition ran between 16-21 August 2022 at the IMT Gallery in London with entry free of charge.
The exhibition featured a range of programmes that raise awareness of LGBTQIA+ ecology. An embroidery session took place on 16 August, managed by Skye Kember. Visitors could learn how to mend and embellish torn clothes and could even bring their own material. On the same day, distinguished artists, such as Ric Scott performed live, along with mural co-creation and placard-making activities.
A guided tour was held on 17 August, where visitors were presented more information about the creations from the artists such as James Chantry. On 21 August, which was the final day of the exhibition, a Healing Session was organised, aiming to create a relaxing environment with meditative activities, representing a queer ecosystem in healing and sharing creativity. This event included embroidery, a discussion with the artist Marta Ilaqua about plant sensitivity, and a sound-bath experience with the sound therapist Carlo Volpi. The exhibition was extremely successful, hosting almost 400 visitors during the one week-long show.
Queer ecology is an interdisciplinary collection of concepts, exploring the natural world through non-normative gender and sexuality. It focuses on the relationship between humans and non-humans - flora and fauna - but it is more of a cultural than a scientific field of study. Its practitioners mainly immerse themselves in political, environmental and gender issues.
Speaking about the exhibition, Anett said: "Supporting nature, emerging artists and the queer community is very important to me. I am extremely proud of the artworks we selected. Our guiding principle was the realisation that there are no gender boundaries; everyone should express themselves in any form and way they would like to. We wanted to guide our visitors with this in mind and help them find beauty and freedom in a broad range of mediums."
Anett also works as a curatorial assistant at the David Kovats Gallery alongside working on her dissertation about queer curating, and the exhibition is also a research-led project which forms part of her degree. ‘They/Them/Their: Naturally Not Binary’ was aimed to support her research in practice, to help the queer community, and to support emerging artists and create future references in curating queer art.
Learn more about Art, Design and Visual Culture courses at the University of Westminster.
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