A Landmark exhibition which will show the extraordinary contribution LGBTQ artists have made to popular culture is coming to Manchester
Launching at The John Rylands Library’s redeveloped exhibitions gallery, The Secret Public: LGBTQ Pop 1955 – 1985 examines the profound influence of LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly performers, artists and activists on mainstream pop culture.
Co-curated with Professor of Popular Culture, Jon Savage and taking his book The Secret Public – How LGBTQ Performers Shaped Popular Culture 1955 – 1979 as a starting point, the exhibition has been extended through to 1985.
It foregrounds the artists, figures, social issues and political discourse from within which a lasting creative legacy was produced, one that still resonates today.
This new exhibition presents key pieces from the extensive archive of research materials collected by Jon Savage over many years which is now as part of the Library’s British Pop Archive.
It includes further materials from The University of Manchester Library’s Special Collections and key private loans including items never before on public display. Posters, magazines, books, promotional photographs and record sleeves trace the extraordinary contribution LGBTQ performers have made throughout those years, enhanced by audio and video providing an evocative soundtrack to this story.
The exhibition takes a thematic and chronological journey through the materials, foregrounding the pioneering artists, musicians, actors, managers and activists who pushed both the social and creative boundaries of their time and their chosen field to agitate, provoke, protest, engage, enlighten and delight.
