Coming Out at the Walker Art Gallery

The UK’s largest exhibition exploring sex, gender and LGBT+ history through art is opening in Liverpool today on the eve of this year’s Pride.

Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender and Identity also comes in the week the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act which partially decriminalised homosexuality in Britain.

The exhibition, on show at the Walker Art Gallery, draws together a collection of pieces by artists from Derek Jarman and Steve McQueen to David Hockney, Sarah Lucas and Zanele Muholi, who have all used their work to explore sexuality and gender identity over the past five decades.

Works have been drawn from the Arts Council Collection and from National Museums Liverpool’s own treasures.

Boy, ?, Girl by Hadrian Pigott, 1994.

Top: Still from 'I Want' - Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz, 2015

Charlotte Keenan, Curator of British Art at NML, says: “Coming Out will be one of the most important exhibitions in the Walker’s history. Showcasing the results of several years of research, it will make visible the themes of sexuality, gender identity and queerness that lie at the heart of some of Britain’s most significant contemporary works.

“The exhibition also forms part of an even greater ambition for us; to make queer British art and its importance to art history permanently visible within our galleries. Visitors can expect to see new interpretation within our permanent displays, as well as some exciting new acquisitions as we look to show – through our own collections – that LGBT+ history is everybody’s history.”

Coming Out: Sexuality, Gender and Identity is at the Walker Art Gallery until November 5. It will then travel to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.