As London prepares for a landmark Pride Parade this weekend – 50 years after homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales – The Photographer’s Gallery has unveiled a special off-site exhibition of images at the City Hall celebrating the LGBTQI movement in the British capital.
Titled ‘Love Happens Here’, the exhibition focuses on British photographers who have used their lens to document and empower the movement across the city as it has evolved over the past five decades, from breakthrough moments in politics and law, to important venues and spaces for the gay community, to snapshots of day-to-day life.
The earliest Gay Pride march took place in 1970, when 150 men walked across Highbury Fields in an act of political solidarity. In the 1980s, the marches began to include gay women – and it was at this time that Ian David Baker (at the time a contributing photographer to publications such as gay pin-up mag Mister) began to document the pride parades in pictures. In an iconic black and white image from 1980, Baker captures both the political defiance and the carnivalesque aspects of Pride, a combination that makes the annual event so unique with poe-faced protestors carrying placards, one dressed as a catholic nun.
Inside London’s Enduring Queer Club Scene, by Emily Rose England, 2016.
Other important historical moments are also reflected in photographs here, including responses to Section 28, the controversial legal amendment that prohibited promotion of homosexuality and education about homosexuality in schools, at the height of the AIDS crisis in 1988. Sunil Gupta’s portrait collages, combining words and images, insist on love as a human bond—no matter your sexuality or gender.
More recent images portraying LGBTQI life in London come from Emily Rose England, who organises Sassitude, a popular club night in East London, and captures the city’s gay nightlife in celebratory colour, while images from Tania Olive’s portrait series Dyke of Our Time explores the diversity of gay culture in a more intimate way, portraying women at home.
From personal to political, ‘Love Happens Here’ is ultimately a reflection on the progress galvanised by protest, the power of pride, and the triumph of love.
Inside London’s Enduring Queer Club Scene, by Emily Rose England, 2016.
Pride, by Ian David Baker, 1980.
Outside London Lesbian and Gay Centre, by Reggie Blennerhassett, ca 1980.
Untitled 6 from ’Pretended’ Family Relationships, by Sunil Gupta, 1988.
Vera from Dyke of our Time, by Tania Olive, 2012.
Mark Ashton’s Flat, by Reggie Blennerhassett, ca 1980.
Untitled 2 from ’Pretended’ Family Relationships, by Sunil Gupta, 1988.
Tigana Wesa Sari, born in Indonesia, living in London, by Kate Elliott, 2012.
INFORMATION
‘Love Happens Here’ is on view until 28 July. For more information, visit The Photographers’ Gallery website
ADDRESS
The Photographers’ Gallery
6-18 Ramillies Street
London W1F 7LW
-
Maggi Hambling at 80: what next?To mark a significant year, artist Maggi Hambling is unveiling both a joint London exhibition with friend Sarah Lucas and a new Rizzoli monograph. We visit her in the studio
-
New York's iconic Breuer Building is now Sotheby's global headquarters. Here's a first lookHerzog & de Meuron implemented a ‘light touch’ in bringing this Manhattan landmark back to life
-
Inside the process of creating the one-of-a-kind book edition gifted to the Booker Prize shortlisted authorsFor over 30 years each work on the Booker Prize shortlist are assigned an artisan bookbinder to produce a one-off edition for the author. We meet one of the artists behind this year’s creations
-
Maggi Hambling at 80: what next?
To mark a significant year, artist Maggi Hambling is unveiling both a joint London exhibition with friend Sarah Lucas and a new Rizzoli monograph. We visit her in the studio
-
Artist Shaqúelle Whyte is a master of storytelling at Pippy Houldsworth GalleryIn his London exhibition ‘Winter Remembers April’, rising artist Whyte offers a glimpse into his interior world
-
Diane Arbus at David Zwirner is an intimate and poignant tribute to her portraitureIn 'Diane Arbus: Sanctum Sanctorum,' 45 works place Arbus' subjects in their private spaces. Hannah Silver visits the London exhibit.
-
Joy Gregory subverts beauty standards with her new exhibition at Whitechapel GalleryUnrealistic beauty standards hide ugly realities in 'Joy Gregory: Catching Flies with Honey '
-
Viewers are cast as voyeurs in Tai Shani’s crimson-hued London exhibitionBritish artist Tai Shani creates mystical other worlds through sculpture, performance and film. Step inside at Gathering
-
Who are the nine standout artists that shaped Frieze London 2025?Amid the hectic Frieze London schedule, many artists were showcasing extraordinary work this year. Here are our favourites
-
Chantal Joffe paints the truth of memory and motherhood in a new London showA profound chronicler of the intimacies of the female experience, Chantal Joffe explores the elemental truth of family dynamics for a new exhibition at Victoria Miro
-
Leo Costelloe turns the kitchen into a site of fantasy and uneaseFor Frieze week, Costelloe transforms everyday domesticity into something intimate, surreal and faintly haunted at The Shop at Sadie Coles
