Welcome

Hadrian and Antonious may have already helped to introduce this, the V&A’s new LGBTQ+ blog ‘Out in the Museum’, but I would like to add my personal welcome too. My name is Dawn and I am an Assistant Curator here at the Museum, currently working on the redevelopment of our Europe 1600-1800 Galleries, I am also the Chair of the V&A’s LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) Working Group.

LGBTQ histories can be found reflected by numerous objects within the V&A’s rich collections and I am particularly eager to increase awareness of this and encourage further exploration of all that the V&A has to offer. I am very excited that we are now able to share our group’s work and activities directly with you through this blog and your comments and feedback are very much welcomed.

Who are we?

As the blurb for this blog explains, we are a group of V&A staff with an interest in using the collections and resources to explore issues of gender, sexuality and identity.

The group first came into being in 2007 and membership has varied over the years as new people join the Museum and others move on to jobs elsewhere (I first joined the group back in 2011). The group is open to all staff across the Museum’s three sites and at present includes individuals from our Learning, Collections, Exhibitions & Loans and Visitor Services departments.

What do we do?

We work to highlight and enable greater understanding of LGBTQ identities and histories through research, public programming, discussion and debate. This includes considering the ways in which visitors interpret and make sense of museum objects on the basis of their own identities and lived experience.

These are exciting and complex subjects to explore and they can possess political, moral and personal challenges. Investigations into these areas are charged, can throw up many questions and often provide only partial answers. It has been observed that there is an inherent contradiction at the heart of LGBTQ liberation politics – the desire to eradicate discrimination whilst appreciating difference. In the face of these quandaries, we recognise that the acknowledgement and presentation of LGBTQ histories, individuals and networks can support recognition of the fact that ‘we’ have always existed.

In addition to our work with Museum objects and audience engagement we are also involved with LGBTQ advocacy within the museum, gallery and archives sector.

Public LGBTQ Events at the V&A

A staple of our events diary is a day of free events each February to mark LGBT History Month (see our 2013 and 2014 line-ups) but we organise a variety of events throughout the year. Previous events from the past couple of years have included:

‘Classic, Camp, and Cult: Queer Film at the V&A’ Film Festival 1st-3rd February 2013

Superstar in a Housedress Film Screening 22nd March 2013

Bette Bourne : It Goes With The Shoes Film Screening with Q&A 5th July 2013

Deception: Imitation & Ceramics, Gallery Talk by Bird la Bird 3rd February 2014

Derek Jarman in the V&A 8th March 2014

We are keen to encourage embedding of LGBTQ content throughout the Museum’s activities and we advise colleagues within the Museum on content, terminology and contacts. This has seen us have direct input into additional public events such as:

David Bowie Weekender 26th-28th April 2013

Dare to Dream: Visual Culture of Campaigns, Protests and Civil Rights 1955-1985 23rd August 2013

Club to Catwalk Friday Late 25th October 2013

What can you expect from this blog?

We will be using this blog to share our research, thoughts, discoveries, reports on events we have attended or participated in and just about anything else we think will be of interest. We already have quite a variety of post ideas in the pipeline so do check back with us regularly.