Tuesday 16 August, 2022
The Victorian Pride Centre is thrilled to announce its new exhibition Impossible Dance featuring photography by artist Matto Lucas, which opens on Thursday 18 August.
Impossible Dance features a collection of black and white photographs that celebrate, canonise and represent queer communities in a pre-COVID world of nightlife, art and entertainment.
As a photographer, Matto Lucas interrogates systems of power, focuses on GASD (Gender and Sexually Diverse) and LGBTIQ+ identities, and aims to authentically document communities on the fringes of mainstream culture, with heavy influences from Rennie Ellis, Susan Sontag, Nan Goldin, William Yang and Joan E. Biren.
Titled after an influential essay written by Fiona Buckland, Impossible Dance is the fifth iteration in a broader series of performance-based photography, bringing together images exhibited throughout the series.
This is the first exhibition programmed by the Victorian Pride Centre’s Visual Arts Working Group, which is comprised of arts professionals from LGBTIQ+ communities. Find out more about our visual arts programming here.
Artist Matto Lucas:
“To bring together these photographic works; to exhibit at the Pride Centre, that celebrate, remember and promote queer peoples and queer spaces, from my photography practice over the last decade and a half, makes me feel so incredibly proud and excited.”
Pride Centre CEO, Justine Dalla Riva:
“Impossible Dance captures the vibrancy and diversity of queer spaces and highlights how they are so important for community connection and celebration. We are excited to showcase the works of Matto Lucas as the first exhibition programmed by our Visual Arts Working Group!”
Visual Arts Working Group member, Lisa Anderson:
“The strength of creativity that came from our communities in answer to our invitation to exhibit is embodied in the series of exhibitions selected for 2022/23. Matto Lucas’s works demonstrate a level of professional engagement with his community embodied in the black and white images. The works engage the particular shared experience in seemingly random bodies and gestures allowing us to gaze directly into the shadows to find exquisite contact.”
About the artist:
Matto Lucas (he/him) is an Australian artist, photographer and lecturer working within mixed and digital media, with a preference for photography and performance. In 2013 Lucas was awarded a Lifetime Membership to Midsumma for his continuous work and commitment as a visual artist within the LGBTIQ+ community. Find out more about Matto Lucas on his website – mattolucas.com/bio