Queer Britain – the UK’s first LGBTQ+ museum will officially open its doors on 5th May 2022, with a temporary display ‘Welcome to Queer Britain‘ on until 4th July ahead of the debut exhibition this summer.
After recently revealing its new home in Kings Cross on Thursday 31st March, Queer Britain – the UK’s first LGBTQ+ museum – has officially announced that it will open to the public on 5th May 2022.
Kickstarting the Queer Britain programming will be “Welcome to Queer Britain”, a temporary display acting as an introduction to the charity and its mission – a rich showcase on show for 8 weeks whilst the team prepares their debut exhibition to open this summer. “Welcome To Queer Britain” will display various pieces from the museums’ growing photographic collection and previous exhibitions including artwork from the Queer Britain archive (housed at the Bishopsgate Institute) alongside a previous collaborative exhibition between the museum, Getty Images and M&C Saatchi as well as images from the 2019 “Chosen Family” exhibition.
Bringing this debut collection of exciting works together is Matthew Storey (Art, design and LGBTQ+ history curator for Historic Royal Palaces) who has taken this opportunity to combine these pieces from previous exhibitions with portraits by Allie Crewe, Robert Taylor and Sadie Lee to highlight the amazing work that the museum has done in the four years since it’s inception.
Storey shares “It has been amazing to follow the journey of Queer Britain from a first idea to the opening of the UK’s first museum dedicated to LGBTQ+ people. It has been an honour to curate the opening display that showcases Queer Britain’s achievements so far. I hope that the photographs chosen reflect the rich diversity of the LGBTQ+ community past and present, as we look to the future of this important new museum.”
A truly inclusive space, Queer Britain proudly welcomes everyone – those who identify as part of the community and those who don’t – to come and see the space, experience a small portion of what the museum has been collating over the past four years and to share their feedback ready for the debut exhibition this summer.
Speaking about the opening, director and co-founder Joseph Galliano says “We are so proud to welcome people into Queer Britain’s space for the very first time. This represents a hugely important step, as the UK opens the doors of its own national LGBTQ+ museum; the start of something beautiful. We welcome all feedback from our visitors and see this opening before our debut exhibition as a real opportunity to connect with the public … so that over time we can truly shift and evolve.”
The museum is located at 2 Granary Square, London, N1C 4BH and open Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm – 6pm.
