A box style television sits on the corner of a bright pink cabinet. The screen shows a grainy image. The bottom half is black, in the top half a pair of eyes and hat are just visible. Some reflections of the room can be seen. Behind, a thin white fabric covers a window, allowing a soft white and yellow glow of light into the room.

SHARP, Dancing with Elvis, 1999-2021, photographic print, courtesy the artist.

Theirs, Yours, Ours: queer and non-binary perspectives on identity

Artists include: Mollie Balshaw, Jesse Glazzard, Sadé Mica, and SHARP

Theirs, Yours, Ours brings together the work of four University of Salford Alumni who explore queer and non-binary perspectives through print, photography, painting, and installation.

From the 1990s to today, the artists in this exhibition explore what it means to be represented, celebrate identities that lie beyond traditional gender expectations, and reflect on the shifts in identity that take place over time. Together, they consider: What does it mean to be, and look, ‘queer’? How are we limited by society’s binary expectations? And in what way does existing beyond them free us?

With work made during the artists’ time at University and as Graduate Scholars, along-side more recent work, together Theirs, Yours, Ours celebrates the possibilities of queer and non-binary identity, while also reflecting the shifts and transitions in identity that take place over time.

Read more:
Exhibition Introduction
Exhibition Handout


Dancing With Elvis (1999-2021) by artist SHARP was made in the late 1990s when Section 28 legislation severely limited LGBTQ+ freedom of expression. The work reflects their butch dyke and non-binary identity at a time of censorship across education, the mainstream media, and everyday life.

Jesse Glazzard’s LGBT+ Letters (2018-19) counters the ‘complete lack of queer visibility’ he was met with upon coming out at secondary school through intimate snapshots accompanied by hand-written accounts of the subjects’ own experiences of queerness and representation.

Sade Mica series of screenprints draws on their own identity, experiences and environments. The open-ended question in screenprint Sheddin’ (2018) asks: ‘Me hair’s gone, now what?’ and brims with the excitement of queer possibility and the anxiety of uncertainty that comes hand in hand.

Mollie Balshaw’s paintings in the ‘expanded field’ extend beyond the traditional bounds and restrictions of both painting and portraiture – to reflect the expansive, multi-dimensional, and even sometimes playful nature of non-binary experience.

SHARP graduated from BA Visual Arts and Culture in 1999, Glazzard from BA Fashion Image Making and Styling in 2018, Mica from BA Fine Art in 2018 and Balshaw from BA Fine Art in 2019.


Exhibition Dates: 
Wednesday 30 March 2022 – Friday 30 September 2022 (closed bank holidays).
Opening hours: Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm
Admission:
Free
Venue: 
New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery, University of Salford, University Road West, M5 4BR


Accessibility Information:  

The New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery is located on the ground floor of the New Adelphi building. The gallery is wheelchair accessible, with seating, toilets, and a shop/cafe for refreshments available within the New Adelphi building.  

For full accessibility information including parking, facilities, and details for each entrance, please see the New Adelphi building guide on AccessAble, available here.  

If you have any additional questions or concerns about visiting the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery, don’t hesitate to email us at artcollection@salford.ac.uk