Kin: A Celebration of Queer Resilience and Connection by J Davies is a powerful photographic series celebrating queer connection. Visit the Pride Gallery from 1st May to 16th June 2025 to experience images that capture these moments.
More about Kin:
J Davies’ Kin is a poignant celebration of queer connection, chosen families, and the spaces that offer protection, joy, and belonging. Through a series of documentary-style photographs, J captures the quiet and vibrant acts of intimacy that sustain queer lives, crafting an archive of resilience that speaks to both the deeply personal and the profoundly communal.
Each image is a window into the richly textured fabric of queer existence: from powerful moments of political solidarity on the steps of Parliament, to the blurred ecstasy of wavy, hazy dancefloor embraces; from tender exchanges of care in living rooms bathed in soft light, to laughter that spills out across sunlit parks. J’s lens weaves together moments of love and lust, culture and community, documenting the sensual, the celebratory, and the deeply grounding.
As a takatāpui artist, J Davies brings a deeply personal perspective to these works, honoring the supportive networks that have shaped their journey. In a world where queer stories are too often framed through pain and loss, Kin stands as a joyful counter-narrative—a tribute to the bonds that ground us, the joy that unites us, and the resilience that defines us. Through these images, J invites viewers to witness the beauty of queer kinship and the power of creating spaces where we can be fully, unapologetically ourselves.
About the Artist, J Davies:
J Davies is a multidisciplinary takataapui artist working on the stolen lands of the Kulin Nation in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). Their practice explores contemporary queer existence, identity, intimacy, neurodiversity, and non-linear time cycles, often drawing on the concept of apophenia—seeing patterns in life’s natural repetitions. J’s work encourages audiences to rethink how we value intimacy, with a focus on fluid timelines and the connection between dreams and memories, as explored in their 2022 book Half of My Whole Life Was Just a Dream.