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Sculpture installation exhibited in ‘Queer As You Are’ at Luan Gallery, Co. Athlone, Ireland

Paper pulp, wood, bisque ceramic, glitter, plaster, cardboard, woven fabric, wire, expanding foam, paint, rushes, gold leaf

200cm x 200cm x 110cm
 Exhibiting artists; Kian Benson Bailes, Stephen Doyle, Austin Hearne, Breda Lynch and Conor O’Grady – Curated by Aoife Power

As part of its Summer 2021 programme Luan Gallery is delighted to present Queer As You Are; a group exhibition of Irish artists which explores the gaps and fissures of queer presence within Irish history and considers how queer historical discourses, or lack thereof, populate our past, present and future.

The exhibition will run from 20th July to 19th September, pending public health restrictions and will feature artists; Kian Benson Bailes, Stephen Doyle, Austin Hearne, Breda Lynch and Conor O’Grady and is curated by Aoife Power and Carmel Duffy.

The artists within this exhibition examine the tension in translating different historical, social, and cultural contexts into something that can be understood by others today. Addressing the absence of objects to assist in their story telling each supplement alternative materials, drawing on psychoanalysis, activism, archaeology, hook up culture, the occult and autobiographical accounts.

Government recognition of LGBTQIA rights in Ireland has expanded greatly over the past two decades however Queer visibility and acceptance is a relatively recent development in the social and legal landscape.

At present Ireland has a significant number of social spaces and support centres for the LGBTQIA community, however the midlands still remain a grey area with limited public spaces or resources. Responding to this void, Luan Gallery aims to temporarily transform into a multi-textural space that will hopefully establish meaningful connections for the Midlands LGBTQIA community that will persist beyond the exhibitions closure.