Join Homotopia as they turn the city’s walls into an outdoor exhibition. Take a tour around the Homotopia Art Crawl, featuring huge art installations by 8 LGBTQIA artists, in prominent locations around the city. Grab a map or follow along with the audio guide. Suitable for all ages.
Featuring art work by Fox Fisher, Colin Lievens, Soph Welton, Sophie Green, Michael Parry, Millie Chesters and OyH.
Listen to the audio guide, presented by Roger Hill and featuring local emerging LGBTQIA artists including Felix Mufti-Wright, Mooncup Theatre and Iesha Palmer.
More about the art and the artists
To Be Frank by Michael Parry:
About the work: Through self expression, form and posture, To Be Frank consistently strives for creativity. The architectural back drop of our great city Liverpool is reflective yet progressive of change and growth. We stand together. Presenting the counter clash beauty of Francis (Frank) Diamonte’s movement, whilst time capsuling both locations under change to monumental structure built to last.
About the artist: Michael Parry is a visual and live artist and photographer based in Liverpool. He sees art as a form of expression, a tool and a coping mechanism, to voice and to document, to release and provoke thought. He is working on a collaborative piece of photography work, with performance artist Francis Diamonti, called To Be Frank, alongside a physical collection titled Hard (on) consisting of five large pieces in a 2-D mixed media set up. Visit Michael Parry’s website here and follow Frank on Instagram @francisdiamonti.
Chris by Millie Chesters:
About the work: Growing up as a football fan, Millie has always been drawn to the iconic style of collectable football cards. Conscious of inequality within the football world, in this project specifically, the lack of queer representation in the beautiful game. Combining her love of football with her love of music, the work takes a queer spin on football cards. This piece is one of a series of football cards that champion her favourite, queer, musical artists.
About the artist: Millie Chesters is an illustrator based in Cheshire who is driven by the joy of drawing and mark-making with pens, pencils, paint; any medium that captures the moment. Millie uses her traditional drawing skills to make GIFs, animations and digitally rendered illustrations. Follow Millie on Instagram @MillieChesters.
Marsha by Sophie Green:
About the work: Growing up transgender, and trying to find her place in the world, Sophie’s role models were in short supply. Over time they came, bringing their stories and experiences, providing valuable contributions to their communities, and providing Sophie with an ever growing list of positive ‘possibility models’. This portrait features Marsha P. Johnson, one of the most prominent activists that started the Stonewall uprising, triggering the beginning of the gay liberation movement.
About the artist: Sophie Green is a Liverpool based freelance artist and designer with over 20 years experience working in the fields of Art, Illustration and Design. You can find Sophie in her studio most days, upstairs at Merseymade on Paradise Street and open to the public 7 days a week. Follow Sophie on Instagram @sophiegreenartist.
Trans Rights Poster Series by Fox Fisher:
About the work: A reproduction of a series of 4 screen-prints which include the phrases Trans Women Are Women, Trans Men Are Men, Non-Binary Is Non-Binary and Trans Rights Are Human Rights. Fox says, “It is a basic human right to express your gender in whatever way that makes you feel happy. And of course, none of these statements affects anyone else’s identity as a man or a woman.”
About the artist: Fox Fisher is an award winning artist, author, filmmaker and trans rights campaigner. Fox is a Patron for LGBT Switchboard and a co-founder of Trans Pride, Brighton. Fox co-created the My Genderation project, making 100+ short films. Fox is Advisor to All About Trans, helping with the representation of trans people in media. Follow Fox on Instagram @theFoxFisher.
Black People Built Liverpool by Kiara Mohamed
About the work: Outside of London, Liverpool has the highest number of Grade listed buildings, majority built because of the success of the slave trade. Following Bristol and London, Liverpool became Europe’s leading slave trade port. The demand for cheap labour to build European colonies led to the slave trade. Black people built Liverpool.
About the artist: Kiara Mohamed (she/her) is a multidisciplinary Muslim trans, gender-fluid artist based in Liverpool. She works with photography, filmmaking, poetry. Her work is primarily concerned with addressing the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and self care. Particularly in relation to forms of community and social responsibility. Her most recent film, ‘Home’ was premiered online with The Bluecoat. Follow Kiara on Instagram @KiaraMohamed.
‘Multitransitional’ by Colin Lievens
About the work: ‘Multitransitional’ describes a non-linear gender transition. It exists somewhere between genderfluditiy and detransitioning. When I first saw this word I felt immediately validated. I present it here, as big as I’m allowed to make it, in the hopes that someone else who needs to see this word as much as I did, will see it.
About the artist: Colin Lievens (they/them) is a trans and autistic writer and performance artist based in London. Their work explores themes of queerness, collaboration, and fan art, but ranges from tattoos about surgery, to bad dances about gender, to essays about One Direction. Currently, their research has been around the medicalisation of trans people and the intersections between neurodiversity and gender identity. Follow Colin on Instagram @ColinLievens.
Between by Soph Welton
About the work: ‘Between’ is an expression of Soph’s non-binary identity and musings of life, from inward introspections to outward observations of issues that affect the LGBTQIA community. A mixture of words and illustrations will decorate the Bagelry’s window.
About the artist: Soph is a graphic designer and artist, originally from the North East of England. Their professional career has seen them work with a diverse range of clients in Liverpool and beyond. As an artist Soph uses illustration and the written word to explore and express a more personal world. Follow Soph on Instagram @iamhuman_design.
“birds of a feather flock together, aka: A New Family Portrait” 2020 by OyH
About the work: birds of a feather flock together, aka: A New Family Portrait (2020) refers to modes of queer relation, kinship, and the idea of one’s ‘chosen’ family. The cowboy hats and sheriff stars, Americana fetishes, are recurring motifs throughout O.y.h’s practise. He juxtaposes this with Eastern iconography, deploying herons, cranes, chickens, goats, butterflies, Buddhist prayer beads, asemic scrawls, and fragments of flash poetry. These elements sometimes refer to the reality of the painted subjects, and sometimes to nothing in particular.
About the artist: O.y.h is an artist based in New York City. His work explores Relation, testament-to-having-lived, and personhood, all diffracted through a queer diasporic lens. The eclectic iconography of his paintings reflects the artist’s varied roots. Often, he playfully hybridises either/or binaries such as East/West, Man/Woman, here/there, exposing their contingency and restrictiveness.
Download the map and podcast from 30 October: homotopia.net/queer-the-city/art-crawl/
