The Queer Code: Secret Languages of LGBTQ+ Art

Explore the visual symbols and language used by LGBTQ+ artists and communities to suggest hidden identities. Oscar Wilde and his circle famously wore a green carnation as a signifier of their identities. These flowers are just one example of the many visual symbols throughout history, which hinted at secret sexualities and identities that had been hidden. So what other coded symbols can we find in the history of queer art? How did today's artist reference and re-use them? And how have hidden symbols transitioned to a wider and more expressive queer visual language? In this new series of three films, Not Seeing Straight: Celebrating Queer Art and Lives, we LGBTQ+ explore artists and their artworks. Since legal changes have in recent decades made the lives of queer people more open and free, so too has the art produced by LGBTQ plus artists. The world of queer arts opened up, becoming bolder, louder and more mainstream. Narrated by Afton Moran Produced by National Galleries of Scotland and HeeHaw Special thanks to: Glasgow Women's Library Equality Network Ru Jazzle Facebook: https://ift.tt/bSA57hJ Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatGalleriesSco Instagram:https://ift.tt/XaBVvlw Website: https://ift.tt/2wQqd4O

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Ellen Gallagher's artwork DeLuxe

Take a closer look at artist Ellen Gallagher's DeLuxe with assistant curator Carine Harmand. DeLuxe is a grid of sixty individually-framed prints. The imagery is based on magazines dating from the 1930s to the 1970s aimed at African-American audiences, many of which feature advertisements for ‘improvements’ including wigs, hair pomades and skin bleaching creams. Gallagher transformed these images using a variety of printing techniques, combining traditional processes of etching and lithography with recent developments in digital technology. She also made modifications by cutting and layering images and text and adding a range of materials including plasticine, glitter, gold leaf, toy eyeballs and coconut oil. Her witty and sophisticated interventions emphasise the complex construction of identity. Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnEl

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What Is An Art Collective? | Tate

What is an art collective? Look no further. We are grateful to the following collectives and the innumerable others whose work makes this film possible. Amber Film and Photography collective have been embedded within Newcastle’s working class community for over half a century. Their building houses an independent cinema, gallery, film production company and international photographic archive allowing them to control the production and distribution of their socially engaged work. Art Boyz is a collective of young Londoners made up of friends Anayo Nkwocha, Yvonne Shelling & Amardeep Sura. The self-appointed family pooled their resources to push their careers in the arts to the next level. Their counter-cultural work seeks to exceed the limits of fine art and straddles music, sculpture, fashion and youth work. Baesianz is a collective and platform based in London, that celebrates Asian artists from all over the globe. Founded by Sami Kimberley, Sarah Khan and Roxanne Farahmand, their work is inclusive of all Asian heritage identities, including mixed heritage, Asians, trans, queer and gender non-conforming Asians. Cooking Sections was formed in 2013 by Alon Schwabe & Daniel Fernández Pascual after an architecture programme led them to think about food as a tool to investigate the construction of space. Since then, their expansive approach to exhibition making has brought a wide range of environmentally engaged expertise to their practice. Alongside art practice they lead a studio unit at Royal College of Art’s School of Architecture. Project Art Works is a collective based in Hastings since 1997. Their collaborative fusion of art and care challenges traditional approaches to inclusion. Working with neurodiverse artists and makers, Project Art Works reimagines the boundaries of what a socially engaged charity, community organisation and artists studio can be. Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries is a Seoul based web art collective that fuses multimedia software, original music and poetry to channel their artistic impulses. Ever responsive, ever irreverent, their work has travelled the world to be experienced in online and traditional gallery spaces. In their fourth decade of collaboration, the group remains as prolific and consistent as ever. Be sure to check out the full original artwork they created in response to this film at: https://ift.tt/9zabcVC N.B.:The collectives referenced here are by no means an exhaustive list and the filmmakers would like to express their appreciation for all those consulted in the process of making this film. Subscribe for weekly films: http://goo.gl/X1ZnEl

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