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Goldsmiths/Lewisham Research Café: LGBTQ+ History Month 2025

Deptford Lounge (9 Giffin Street London SE8 4RJ)

Wednesday, 12th Feb 2025 (12:00 – 13:00 GMT)

Grab a free cup of tea or coffee and join students, staff and the general public to hear about current and recent research at Goldsmiths in a relaxed, friendly environment. The presentations will be followed by an opportunity for questions and discussion.

LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths Exhibition

LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths was an exhibition hosted at Goldsmiths, University of London Library during May and June 2024. Its content, the positive experiences and representation of LGBTQ+ people, was represented by both original art (artworks, videos, music, games) from more than 20 creators and artists from around the world, and also pieces from Goldsmiths Special Collections and Archives. Exhibition curator Ashleigh Green reflects on the LGBTQ+ histories found within the exhibition.

From Problem Novel to Own Stories: The Evolution of Trans Representation in YA Literature

Dr Emily Corbett is a specialist in children’s and young adult literature in the Goldsmiths Department of Educational Studies. She will share insights from her recent monograph, In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation (2024). Drawing on extensive analysis of published texts from the twenty-first century, she will discuss how specific narrative conventions emerged and evolved, how market forces shaped representation, and what these changes reveal about shifting cultural attitudes toward gender identity. The paper will highlight key turning points in this field’s history and examine the complex interplay between publishing practices and authentic representation.

Key Research Crucial To The Same-Sex Marriage Bill In Greece

Dr Panagiotis Pentaris is based in the Goldsmiths Department of Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies. He played a crucial role in the development of the newly passed same-sex marriage bill in Greece, which was informed by his work surrounding the rights of Greek LGBTQ+ families. Dr Pentaris was the first person to provide data specifically on the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ parents in Greece, and submitted a social policy report to the Greek parliament. Panagiotis is also the scientific lead for Rainbow Families in Greece, supporting LGBTQ+ parents in the public domain.

Book your free ticket here for this event at Deptford Lounge

LGBTQ+ Events During May and June

May 21, 2024

The LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths exhibition launched a couple of weeks ago at the Library, and was attended by around 40 people. It was fantastic to be able to celebrate the launch and share the enthusiasm for works in the exhibition with some of the exhibitors, University staff, students and also members of the local LGBTQ+ community in attendance.

We’re running a range of events while the exhibition is on display.

Firstly, there will be a series of short in-person exhibition tours. Tickets available here.

You’ll also have the chance to get creative and get inspired by queer joy and the exhibition in our Queer Joy zine making workshop. Tickets and further information can be found here.

And a more in-depth online virtual tour and introduction for those who can’t make it to the exhibition will be taking place as part of the CILIP LGBTQ+ Network Festival of Pride & Knowledge. You can book your tickets here.

Visitors can also explore the exhibition themselves 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday (tickets for external visitors here) until 20th June 2024.

All are welcome to these free events.

You can find out more about the exhibition here.

LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths Exhibition Launches Today

May 7, 2024

Today sees the launch of the inspirational LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths exhibition, running from 7th May to 20th June. This showcase celebrates the creativity and resilience of LGBTQ+ individuals through an array of uplifting and thought-provoking art, videos, music, games, and archival materials.

The exhibition is on display throughout the ground floor of Goldsmiths, University of London Library (New Cross, SE14 6NW), including within the Special Collections and Archives rooms.

Contributions come from over 20 talented creators spanning the globe, including Goldsmiths University students. Delving into historical LGBTQ+ culture and history, the exhibition also hosts materials from the Women’s Art Library and Women’s Revolutions Per Minute archives.

Creatives who have contributed to this exhibition include:

Alessandro Paiano – M+E BREATHE (video)
Magnus Thirteen – 陰陽鳳眼 The Yin Yang Peacock (video and photographs)
Ray Abu-Jaber – Beautiful Bodies: Queer Joy & self-love (visual art)
Ray Abu-Jaber and Kassie Fletcher – CRUISING DYSTOPIA (physical game)
Yufeng Wu – Breathe / Causality/Karma (visual art)
Kuch Bhogal – Proud (visual art)
R.E. and S.W. Lee – Walking in My Friend’s High Heels (video)
Leon Clowes – Andrew (music)
AnimaeNoctis – PRIDEPRIDEPRIDE / Liquid Lyrical Liberty (videos)
Rik Versteeg – It’s Liquid (video)
Konrad Natthagel – Sapphic love between goddesses (visual art)
Geoffrey Doig-Marx (GDM) – Gay ICONS (visual art)
Guillermo “Wildo” Zayas IV – Warmest Embrace (visual art)
Linhtropy – when it’s safe again (digital game)
Paty Rodriguez – ADARIM 1997 (video)
Stefani J Alvarez – Transfinity Testament (video)
Terry Gregoraschuk – “Trans4mation” (visual art)
Salome Zhvania – Only Lovers Left Undead (visual art)
Oxford University Press staff & friends – Pride flag (knitted flag)
Various collaborators – Pixel Pride (digital game)

All pieces within the exhibition remain copyright of the creators.

Goldsmiths Special Collections and Archive materials include pieces from:

Del LaGrace Volcano and Jack Halberstam
Annie Sprinkle
Mandy McCartin
Invasorix
Nina Hoechtl
Tessa Boffin
Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company
Ming de Nasty
Flying Lesbians
The Tokens
Berkeley Women’s Music Collective
Lavender Light: The Black and People of All Colors Lesbian and Gay Gospel Choir
Alix Dobkin
Siren
Judy Small

External visitors can book free tickets to view the exhibition here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lgbtq-positive–voices-goldsmiths-exhibition-tickets-880889372827

There are also tickets still available for the free launch event tomorrow evening (8th May, 6:00 – 8:30pm): https://www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id=14968

And we will also be running a free queer joy zine making workshop on 31st May (1:30 – 4:30pm). Free tickets here: https://libcal.gold.ac.uk/event/4207926

On a personal note, it feels like such a long time since I started thinking about this, and discussing it with colleagues in Goldsmiths University. I am so excited that this vibrant and positive exhibition is now launched. And I am extremely grateful for all who chose to contribute their pieces to this exhibition.

Ashleigh Green

LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths Exhibition Curator

LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths Launches May 2024

Feb 27, 2024

We are very excited to announce that the the LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths Exhibition will be launching on 7th May 2024, and will run until 20th June.

The exhibition, which is a celebration of LGBTQ+ lives and positive perspectives, will include original printed art works, video, audio, games, as well as items from the Women’s Art Library and Women’s Revolutions Per Minute collection. The Goldsmiths Special Collections and Archives material, and artistic works from 20+ creatives from around the world that make up the exhibition will be on display on the ground floor of Goldsmiths University Library.

Collage of pieces from the LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths exhibition

The creators include:

Alessandro Paiano
Magnus Thirteen
Ray Abu-Jaber
Ray Abu-Jaber and Kassie Fletcher
Yufeng Wu
Kuch Bhogal
R.E. and S.W. Lee
Leon Clowes
AnimaeNoctis
Rik Versteeg
Konrad Natthagel
Geoffrey Doig-Marx (GDM)
Guillermo “Wildo” Zayas IV
Linhtropy
Paty Rodriguez
Stefani J Alvarez
Terry Gregoraschuk
Salome Zhvania

Further details of the project can be found here.

LAUNCH EVENT

A launch event will be held on Wednesday 8th May 2024 (18:00 – 20:30). It will provide visitors with an opportunity to find out more about the project, as well as time to explore the exhibition pieces. Book your free launch event tickets here.

EXHIBITION TICKETS FOR EXTERNAL VISITORS

Visitors who are not members of Goldsmiths University Library can visit the exhibition by booking a free ticket here.

Further showcase events will be hosted during the exhibition in May and June. Details will be published both on the Goldsmiths Library blog and on the LGBTQ+ Positive Voices site.

Submissions Open For Creative LGBTQ+ Project

If you’ve been following this blog for the past few months, you will have read about the LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths Library project.

As a reminder, this project is focused on creating a collaborative exhibition to be launched during 2024 in Goldsmiths Library with a theme of positive representation and experiences of LGBTQ+ people.

The exhibition will include content from Goldsmiths University Special Collections and Archives; alongside works by individual creators.

You can find out more about the project in some of our older blog posts.

Today we are opening the form for submissions.

WHAT CAN YOU SUBMIT?

Any art or creative work by an LGBTQ+ person that fits the above theme, and can be shared or represented in a digital file format is welcome as a submission. This can include image, video, audio, text files, but is not limited to these forms only.

And if your creative work relates to or is inspired by LGBTQ+ material in Goldsmiths Special Collections and Archives, even better!

Contributions from amateur, hobby, DIY artists, crafters and creatives, those who do not consider themselves to be artists or creatives, and those who have never submitted to an exhibition before are especially welcome.

Participants must be 18 or over. Submissions will be included in the exhibition at the discretion of the organiser.

Any submission you make must be your own work and something that you are happy to be shared in a public space. You will retain full copyright of your work.

You do not need to either work or study at Goldsmiths to submit an entry.

YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS

All information submitted via this form (except email) will be included in the exhibition. If you would like your submission to appear anonymously in the exhibition, please select the option at the end of the form.

Email addresses submitted will be kept securely and confidentially and will only be used to contact you about the exhibition. They will not appear on the website.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE & GO LIVE

Call for exhibition submissions closes on 31st October 2023.

The exhibition will go live in spring 2024.

Follow the Goldsmiths Library blog for updates about the exhibition.

NEED MORE INFO?

If you’d like more information about the project, please contact a.green (@gold.ac.uk)

Ready to send your contribution? Fill in the form here.

Paper with painted rainbow hearts surrounded by artists tools.

Image by stux on Pixabay.com

A Queer Project We’re Positively Proud Of

Since beginning the LGBTQ+ Positive Voices exhibition project, I’ve been exploring Goldsmiths collections, with a lot of support from the Special Collections and Archives team, and pulling out items of interest. This has been as a way to discover items for the exhibition, and also a way to discover materials that I could use as inspiration for my own creative responses to the exhibition focus – that being “positive reflections and experiences of LGBTQ+ people”.

When I started, I wasn’t sure what shape my creative response would take. In the end, I decided to give myself some rules just so I could start creating something, rather than dithering endlessly about what form it would take. My rules were (1) create something specifically in the Special Collections space itself (2) create something no-tech/low tech/physical, rather than digital.

I’d recently discovered zines via the library’s own Liberate Zines collection, and I also came across the concept of photocopy art in the Women’s Art Library collection.

So, I took those concepts and pulled together a poster collage with a DIY feel to it, which has a focus around the portrayal of gender. Why? Because I am trans*/gender non-conforming, and I wanted to see what items there were in the collection in relation to that. I included photocopied images and “negative” text (ie white on black) by Volcano DeLagrace & J. Jack Halberstam from their Drag King Book; Tessa Boffin’s portrayal of women in masculine presentation; Invasorix tarot cards; and part of a Mandy McCarthy image in a photocopy collage.

Much of the collage comes from a lesbian, drag king, queer feminist perspective, and it was an interesting experience for me to see how that might and might not relate to my own identity as someone who is assigned male at birth.

I decided that I wanted to focus on the creators words only, so I made liberal use of highlighters on the posters to draw attention to who these artists were and draw attention to text and images they used. When I looked at what I’d pulled together/repurposed, and was wondering why this collage of unrelated artists and their thoughts made sense to me, I realised it was a focus on the idea that we can “do” gender however we want to and that’s okay.

As a creative practice, it was useful for me to look at materials I wasn’t aware of, and discover new artists myself. When I was talking to the SCA team about the project and things I was interested in seeing, thanks to their knowledge of the collection and broader thinking they introduced me to all the artists I mentioned above and took me in a direction I had not realised I would go in. The exhibition is about positive experiences/perspectives of LGBTQ+ people, and I wanted this piece to be about things that were positive to me in relation to my identity, and I expected that to come from AMAB bi and trans* perspective – so it was interesting to see that it didn’t work that way. The positivity of this piece in relation to how I felt was gained from an entirely different direction.

Here are a few images of the “Do Gender However It Works For You” work in progress in different stages. Just so you can see how it came together.

A few of the original sources

Content scaled up and photocopied as negatives

Paper folding, sticking and test colouring with highlighters

Photocopied collage and more colour tests

Completed piece?!? Maybe!

We have another workshop for the exhibition coming up on the afternoon of 10th August 2023, which is open to all (including anyone from outside of Goldsmiths University). We’d like anyone who wants to get involved in contributing to the exhibition to come along. The workshop will give people the chance to learn about the project, including how you can get involved. And we’ll share some of Goldsmiths University Special Collections and Archives collection with you to spark ideas about how LGBTQ+ lives can be revealed, celebrated and portrayed positively through it. Getting involved could mean one of many things – create a piece for the exhibition; pull out materials from the collection that speak to you in a positive way from an LGBTQ+ perpspective; contribute a character to a pixel style game; or share your own positive experiences in whatever form you want to.

You can book your place at the workshop here: https://libcal.gold.ac.uk/calendar/SCA/LGBTQPositive3

Ash Green (LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @Goldsmiths curator)

Share Your Pixel Pride – Collaborate On A Game

If you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know that the Special Collections and Archives team is working with Ash Green (they/them) to create an exhibition of LGBTQ+ positive perspectives.

Tied in with this, for Pride month there’ll be a drop-in event in Goldsmiths University Library with the aim of creating a collaborative game (using Bitsy) that will give LGBTQ+ people the opportunity to share snippets of their positive experiences, lives and perspectives.

The event will take place on 27^th June between 12:30 and 14:30, in the Library (Ground floor, in front of the big screen near the cafe).

No Programming, Coding Or Game Making Experience Needed To Participate

This will be a no-tech game making session, with contributors drawing 8×8 characters and writing their dialogue on paper. The characters will be added to a Bitsy game to be created for the 2024 exhibition.

If you’re not sure what you want your character to say, you can take inspiration from some of the LGBTQ+ themed Special Collections & Archive material we’ll have available during the event.

What’s A Bitsy Game?

As mentioned earlier, we’ll be using Bitsy to create the game. This is a great free little game making tool that lets you create retro style narrative pixel games without needing to be a programmer. Take a look at some examples of Bitsy games here: https://itch.io/games/tag-bitsy

You Could Probably Even Contribute in 5 Minutes

Though the event lasts for 2 hours, you can turn up at any time and leave at any time too. It might just take you 5 minutes to draw your 8×8 pixel character, write down the words it will say in the game, and then you’re done. 😊

So, come join us for the event on 27^th June and share your Pixel Pride.

Find out more here.

Plans for LGBTQ+ Positive Voices @ Goldsmiths Library

Be Part of the Creative Celebration of LGBTQ+ Lives at Goldsmiths Library