Queer From the North – LGBTQ+ History Month
February 2026
In celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month Team Assistant Cami O’Hagan has delved into our Collection, using the ‘From the North’ strand as a starting point to spotlight some of their favourite LGBTQ+ artists and artworks.
February is LGBTQ+ history month. The ‘history’ part of that sentence is important. As a society, we have made substantial strides in establishing civil rights groups such as the Gay Liberation Front and OutRage! and alongside, harmful legislations have been overturned, for example, the repeal of Section 28, and the legalisation of same-sex marriages. These timelines and movements of LGBTQ+ people in UK indicates the challenges the community has faced and still faces today.
Throughout this blog I hope to shed light on artists in the Collection that are creating new dialogue around the historical and contemporary nuances of LGBTQ+ life in Britain today. SHARP, Jesse Glazzard, and Cheddar Gorgeous are either ‘From the North’ (North of England) or based in the North. In different ways they refuse the binary and redefine queer and trans identity, culture and lived experience through photography, video, and performance art.
SHARP
Dancing with Elvis (1999-2021), Photographic Print
Born in Bradford, Yorkshire now based in Cornwall – SHARP (They/She) is a Queer working-class socially engaged artist, activist, and producer who works mainly through interdisciplinary approaches.
Dancing with Elvis produced by during the 1990s; a time besieged by Section 28 which criminalised the promotion of homosexuality brought in under Thatcher’s conservative government.
Photographed at SHARP’S home studio in their council flat, the first pair of images shows Elvis on a retro TV set in a harsh red-toned dimly lit room with the curtains drawn. The second pair display another shot of Elvis with a cowboy hat on the TV, the frame more cropped than before and the light this time is soft and pink which overflows the still drawn curtains.
This era saw many LGBTQ+ people feeling lost, limited and unseen in their queer identity from the lack of cultural representation due to mass censorship. As someone who has at times muted parts of their queerness in public spaces, around others to remain ‘safe’ or undetected – I have always had my chosen safe spaces to explore my own identity and sexuality as a non-binary person. In Dancing with Elvis SHARP who also identifies as non-binary, has used the safety of their own domestic and everyday environment to explore their butch and dyke characteristics; something that was not visually accessible through popular culture at this time.
This project positions itself somewhere between still lives and self-portraiture, SHARP places themselves under their own queer gaze by means of the TV screen. Breaking through conventional gender expectations and formal portraiture style – they use Elvis as iconography to reflect a masculinity, and a queerness that is desirable and resilient.
This set of images were kindly gifted to the Collection by the artist in 2021. They have connections to the University as an Alumni, studying BA Visual Arts and Culture in the late 1990s.
Back in 2024 I had attended an artist talk and a group art critique lead by SHARP, Megan Powell (artist and Lecturer in Photography) and Steph Fletcher (Art Collection Curator). Having the opportunity to converse with an artist of this incredible stature, I will cherish this experience always.
Jesse Glazzard
LGBT+ Letters (2018-19), Photograph and digital prints
LGBT+ Letters, 2018-19, Install shot, Image: Courtesy of Jules Lister
Jesse Glazzard, Ella (from LGBT+ Letters), 2018-2019. Courtesy the artist.
LGBT Letters is a photographic series of seven portraits of individuals who identify under the umbrella of queerness, each accompanied by their own personalised hand-written texts. This series was inspired by Glazzard’s experience of coming out during secondary school, being met with an absence of queer visibility in media and culture – an experience that I can empathise with and would only describe as uncomfortable and frustrating.
Glazzard combines a documentary style photography with personal writing to lessen the distance between subject, viewer, and the camera, this nurtures a sense of both lived, and shared experiences through the themes of belonging, community, and fluidity.
Although in recent years I would say queer visibility within arts, media, and television have improved – I do believe a lot of major film and TV directors, and writer working for the large media outlets and production companies are using the same triggering visual tropes and old stereotypes when choosing to represent the queer community. LGBT Letters offers the aesthetics of queerness to those who find themselves without meaningful and honest representation. The hand-written letters further the trust between Glazzard and his sitters, creating an intimate yet educational format for the viewer.
In this contemporary age we have seen a growing negative attitudinal change towards trans and non-binary people, with the rise of far-right wing figures that spread false ideologies around and capitalising on these communities. In my opinion this work is crucial to reflecting the shifts in identity that take place during times of political and social flux. Questioning how we are limited by society’s binary norms, and in what way does existing beyond them free us?
In July 2024 I had the opportunity in assisting with the install of a selection of LGBT Letters for the CATALYST (2024) New Adelphi Gallery exhibition. This was an absolute privilege to see these images accompanied alongside the letters.
Cheddar Gorgeous
Untitled (Madam Mort), 2021 Digital photograph
Collaboration: Photography by Lee Baxter, Costume with Natalie Linney, Liquorice Black, Mr Joe King and Moderate Realism
Cheddar Gorgeous (aka Dr Michael Atkins), originally from Birmingham is a drag performer, visual and transformation artist, and academic currently based in Manchester. Cheddar is based at Islington Mill – one of the Collection’s studio partners and a leading regional organisation in developing queer culture. Cheddar has a PhD in Anthropology and has had some notable appearances and features including Season 4 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK, Drag SOS on Channel 4, ID, and Vice.
Cheddar is especially interested in using drag beyond the constraints of the entertainment industry, to be used as a social and political tool that provokes growth in communities, extends work of social causes and charities, and is the everchanging space where all manner of self, experiences and perspectives can be expressed.
This fabulous project was commissioned for the You Belong Here (2021) exhibition with Salford Museum and Art Gallery, which was part of the wider Rediscovering Salford’s green spaces programme. Cheddar reached out to residents of Little Hutton, Salford to gather local memories, historic rumours and tales, utilising the art of drag to delve into the story of 18th century figure, Madam Mort (Catherine Mort) aka ‘the grey lady’ or ‘white lady’ – in this present day is said to haunt the local woodland in this area as a ghostly spirit.
Pulling from archives and interacting with the local community, examining into the past recordings of the historic site of Wicheaves Hall and its surrounding woodland, later this site would be Peel Hall. Madam Mort was widowed during the 1700s, leaving her a very wealthy individual – a somewhat unusual position for a woman at to be in during this time.
This socially engaged approach in finding the stories of this lost hall has clearly captured Cheddar’s imagination, producing this project through a collaborative process, encompassing the artistry and craft of seven artists; photography by Lee Baxter and Fake Trash, costume design, jewellery and make up by Liquorice Black, Mr Joe King, Natalie Linney, Moderate Realism, and Cheddar.
No detail has been missed, even the textiles were dyed with locally foraged plant materials, memorable accounts of ‘the grey lady’ ghost sightings have been printed on to the fabric, and the wraithlike colours and ethereal patterns of the dress echo the site’s silver birch trees. Baxter’s location photography captures the ‘haunting’ and theatrical elements, to which Cheddar has embodied and give new life to the legacy of Madam Mort and her sightings.
From someone who has worked with archival and historical records before, this project opens many questions around how we remember, record, share, and investigate pasts of our local towns, parks and landmarks. Cheddar Gorgeous has not only revived an old, rumoured tale, they have resurrected history through collaboration, environmentally friendly processes and storytelling. Simultaneously situating the viewer in looking at these once hidden histories through a queer lens, touching on themes of feminism and belonging by using drag as a curatorial instrument.
As of today, you are in luck! This photographic series in currently on view in the New Adelphi Exhibition Gallery for our current City of Making exhibition which runs until 3rd July 2026.
I look forward to developing further research and writing on these artworks and creating more visibility around other LGBTQ+ artists and narratives within the collection.
You can find out what each artist is up to on their Instagram:
@sharp_the_artist
@jesse_glazzard
@cheddar_gorgeous
All images courtesy the artist.