An LGBTQ+ museum — the UK's first — opens its doors in London this May, beginning with a display entitled 'Welcome to Queer Britain'.
Back in January, the charity Queer Britain announced it was opening a museum in Granary Square, King's Cross, in the former site of the House of Illustration art gallery.
The charity has now revealed its first display will open to the public on 5 May. Running for eight weeks, it will feature various pieces from the charity's growing collection (which is housed at the Bishopsgate Institute), alongside a previous collaborative show between Queer Britain, Getty Images and M&C Saatchi called Capturing the Rainbow, featuring photos of Elton John, Roberta Cowell, and various London Pride parades.
Welcome to Queer Britain will also showcase images from the Chosen Family exhibition, which appeared as a pop-up in Covent Garden in 2019.
The new display, says Queer Britain, will act as an introduction to the charity and its mission — ahead of a second exhibition later on in the summer. Says its curator, Matthew Storey, "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."
The museum's director and co-founder Joseph Galliano added: "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."
When the Queer Britain museum opens on 5 May, it will be free to enter, with donations encouraged.
