Gerard O’Connor

Tableaux

11 June – 19 July 2026

These images present cinematic, camp tableaux that reimagine and foreground LGBTIQ+ figures who have long been overlooked in mainstream history. From men dancing the tango, to Victorian women archers, drag performers of the 1940s, star singers in Buenos Aires, and queer narratives woven through goldfields life in Caulfield’s National Trust house ‘La Bassa,’ these works inhabit and reclaim historical spaces. Trans bridesmaids at 1980s wedding parties further underline the continuity of queer presence across time.

Through humour, detail, and playful provocation, these scenes critique social norms—exposing hypocrisy and chaos to reveal a richer, more fabulous diversity. Storytelling and visibility are central to community strength, healing, and belonging; seeing ourselves reflected across history affirms that queer lives have always been here.

Our work takes the form of carefully composed, highly detailed photographic tableaux. Each image is grounded in extensive research into the period, subject, and site, and then reinterpreted through a queer lens—drawing on contemporary ways of seeing and over 35 years of image-making practice. Inspired by the scale and narrative richness of 19th-century European history painting, these scenes unfold intricate stories that are executed with precision, yet deliberately subvert straight-thinking audiences and unsettle heteronormative interpretations of the past.

This body of work invites viewers to slow down, look closely, and discover nuances within each frame—supporting the lives and subjects depicted and honouring their presence.

This is an extraordinary photographic exhibition reflects the powerful collaboration between two artistic queer practitioners and soul mates Gerard O’Connor and Marc Wasiak which commenced in the mid-1990s. O’Connor a film maker/photographer and Wasiak a set designer/prop-maker are both acclaimed in their fields and together they constructed complex and large-scale images exploring the peculiarities of human behaviour and our changing social mores.