Image: Community legend and one of the namesakes of the Rooftop Pavilion Giving Circle (photo by Matto Lucas)
The Victorian Pride Centre is thrilled to announce its new exhibition Impossible Dance featuring photographic works by artist Matto Lucas, showing in the Pride Gallery from August 18.
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. Impossible Dance is free to view, and no bookings are required. Find out more about our visual arts programming via the Pride Centre website.
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.”
Victorian 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.”