Dreaming of Home at Leslie-Lohman Museum Explores Queer Belonging
Located in Lower Manhattan, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art showcases 'Dreaming of Home,' an exhibition curated by Gemma Rolls Bentley that features 20 artists from the LGBTQIA+ community, all examining the notion of home. The inspiration for this show comes from Catherine Opie's 1993 work 'Self Portrait/Cutting' and includes pieces by artists such as Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Jenna Gribbon, Nicole Eisenman, and Charmaine Poh. As the only visual arts museum dedicated to LGBTQIA+ artists globally, executive director Alyssa Nitchun highlights its mission to validate identities. Plans are underway to digitize the collection and create a traveling drag exhibition. Since the pandemic, the audience has surged, with 69% aged 21-40 and 85% identifying as LGBTQIA+, prompting a physical expansion amid increasing anti-LGBTQIA+ incidents.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Dreaming of Home' at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in Lower Manhattan
- Guest curator: Gemma Rolls Bentley
- Features 20 LGBTQIA+ artists
- Inspired by Catherine Opie's 1993 photograph 'Self Portrait/Cutting'
- Includes works by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Jenna Gribbon, Nicole Eisenman, Charmaine Poh
- Leslie-Lohman is the world's only LGBTQIA+ visual arts museum
- Museum founded in 1969, same year as Stonewall Riots
- Collection holds over 30,000 works
- Audiences tripled since pandemic; 69% aged 21-40, 85% LGBTQIA+
- Museum plans digitization, traveling exhibition on genderfuckery and drag
- Security prioritized after 350+ anti-LGBTQIA+ incidents reported June 2022-April 2023
- Schwules Museum window shot in March 2023
- Over 800 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills in US last year
Entities
Artists
- Catherine Opie
- Gemma Rolls Bentley
- Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
- Jenna Gribbon
- Nicole Eisenman
- Charmaine Poh
- Del LaGrace Volcano
- Ajamu X
- Robert Mapplethorpe
- Coyote Park
- Amelia Abraham
Institutions
- Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art
- Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art
- Schwules Museum
- GLBT Historical Society
- Tate Britain
- Barbican
- Centre Pompidou
- Queer Britain
- Queercircle
- Hayward Gallery
- Guggenheim
- GLAAD
Locations
- Lower Manhattan
- New York
- United States
- San Francisco
- Berlin
- Germany
- London
- United Kingdom
- Paris
- France
- Singapore
- Kings Cross
- Greenwich
- South London