Ipswich LGBTQ+ exhibition 'will show Suffolk we're visible'

Organiser Charlie Brodie said the exhibition was "a really amazing opportunity" to showcase people's work

An exhibition exploring how people's identity and sexuality can change is "really valuable" and will show "people we're visible", the organiser has said.

People from the LGBTQ+ community were asked to contribute art and literature for the show at The Hold on the Ipswich waterfront.

Organiser Charlie Brodie said its theme of metamorphosis was "intrinsically linked to queer life".

The exhibition includes paintings, photography, crochet and illustration.

"I think many people in the LGBTQ+ community will be able to link themselves to metamorphosis, because you move from one stage of life to the next, when you come out, or you start to live as the gender you want to be perceived as," said Mr Brodie, founder of the group Suffolk Queer Voices.

The 25-year-old said the exhibition had been "a really amazing opportunity to platform and showcase people's work".

"I think it's really valuable, showing people we're visible, people in Suffolk are queer, they have stories, they have voices," he said.

Bo Hirst's exhibit is a torso "smashed up and put back together again" with the breaks highlighted in gold

A-level student Bo Hirst is one of the artists showcasing his work, a depiction of the ancient Roman god Apollo.

"Apollo is a torso and it's been smashed up and put together with epoxy resin and then painted in gold," he said.

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The 18-year-old is transgender and the work is inspired by his own experience.

The teenager, who came out on a family holiday in April 2021, said: "It's almost as if you're born in the wrong body, it's broken and you're put back together to become something better - hence the gold, highlighting where you're put back together."

Candy Hirst said her son's transition "feels really right, it's like he's always been he/him, my son"

His mother Candy Hirst said: "It was definitely expected, but it was an adjustment for sure, we've made mistakes along the way.

"But it feels really right now, it's like he's always been he/him, my son, even though there was 16 years beforehand using the other pronouns."

Metamorphosis runs until 21 November.

The exhibition includes paintings, photography, crochet and graphic design illustration