Wandsworth Borough has a rich and vibrant LGBTQ+ history, which is explored and displayed through the Queer Wandsworth Exhibition, which runs from February 3rd to 28th. The exhibition is split between the Battersea Arts Centre (which runs until the 21st) and the Wandsworth Town Library but are free to the public and well worth the visit.
This exhibition presents a poignant reflection on the way history obscures the daily life of LGBTQ+ people. Because of stigmatisation and criminalisation, there is often a lack of primary evidence of historical life. This challenge is directly addressed through the exhibition and in the reflections of the researchers. An overarching aim of this work is to bring LGBTQ+ history to light, to reveal the harm caused by stigmas and repression, and to provide clear and tangible documentation of current struggles and LGBTQ+ community for future historians. These aims are limited by the lack of concrete documentation or proof, and while it can be easy to speculate on the relationships and identities of the people remembered through the archive, this is not productive or helpful for enriching our understanding of the past. The exhibition became a venue for responsible witnessing of the past, allowing wherever possible for the people contained in the archive to speak for themselves, and to provide a voice for what they were unable to say during their life.
This exhibition also draws on living memory and oral history, offering a space for the LGBTQ+ community to share, remember, and enrich our understanding of the past. This part of the exhibition brings out the vibrant community of activism, mutual care, and artistic expression that exists in Wandsworth, even as the physical spaces change and evolve.
Four figures which were highlighted in the exhibition were Caroline Townshend and Joan Howson, William Hallé, and Andrew Logan. Caroline and Joan lived in the late 19th early 20th century and worked as stained glass artists. Through their story, the difficulties caused by ‘archival silence’ is most obvious, as they lived and worked together but never outright said what their relationship to each other was. William Hallé, on the other hand, left detailed diaries of his life in Wandsworth, which offer a unique opportunity to see how LGBTQ+ people managed their daily lives which facing direct oppression and stigmatisation. Andrew Logan is a sculptor and performance artist who started the Alternative Miss World event and uses his art to challenge and break gender norms.
These three stories were also given artistic expression and intervention through the work of Luca Bosani. His work reimagines their lives and art through shoes, offering visitors a chance to explore and imagine what their lives might have been. This artistic intervention in the archival material breathes new life into these stories, offers visitors a visual guide to the stories exhibited, and helps carry the legacy of these people forward into the present and the future.
Thanks to Flick Kemp for this blog post. To read his full piece, Spotlight on: Resources for LGBTQ+ History Month, click here.
