To coincide with the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in February 2025, DRAW Space will present QUEER DRAWING, which contemplates the profound connection between drawing and queerness—presenting drawings by 20 queer and ally-identifying artists, each drawing a window into the lived experience of queerness in all its diversity. Queerness is revealed in lines, shadows, and mark-making.

QUEER DRAWING is part of the official 2025 Sydney Gay and Lesbian program: https://www.mardigras.org.au/event/queer-drawing/

Opening 6-8pm Thursday, 6 February, during the first week of Mardi Gras and again on Saturday, 15 February, from 6-8 pm. With artist talks on Saturday the 8th of February 2-4 pm. Join the artists and DRAW Space team to celebrate.

Drawing is an inherently intimate act at the genesis of thought. It requires unique ways of seeing, often revealing what is hidden. Similarly, queerness embodies the idea that the personal is political; it represents a distinctive way of being and seeing, often hidden in history. In this exhibition, queerness serves as an inclusive identity for the LGBTQIA+ community and a fluid term for artistic expression, style, content, and concept.

Drawing is an act of close observation that finds a parallel in queer perception, a finely tuned awareness of subtleties in apparency, dress, and demeanour to recognise queerness in others. Like a sketch being erased and redrawn, so too, queerness exists as a state of constant becoming—forever reimagined, challenged, and lived. By translating a queer gaze through drawing, hidden worlds are revealed.

Curated by queer drawing artist Jeremy Smith, QUEER DRAWING incorporates a variety of approaches, from intricate observational sketches to bold, abstract gestures. Collectively, they explore themes of love, identity, community, and resistance. Through drawing, the participating artists make visible the intersections of their queerness with the broader cultural, social, and political landscapes. Each of the 20 artists invites you into their own unique personal queer world.

QUEER DRAWING features the work of:

Herk Alexander
Liz Bradshaw
Jack Buckley
Jodi Clark
Tango Conway
Jake Alexander Cruz
Scott Elk
Gareth Ernst
Dan Gladden
Keroshin Govender
Kim Leutwyler
Samuel Luke
Jeff McCann
Andrew Nicholls
Graham Robertson
Kurt Schranzer
Michael Simms
Jeremy Smith
Luke Thurgate
Yiorgos Zafiriou

The exhibition runs from 6pm Thursday 6 February to 5pm Sunday 2 March 2025.

Download the exhibition room sheet here.

The Queerness of Drawing

Exhibition essay by Jeremy Smith

Drawing is one of our most intimate acts. An immediate, raw, and honest act of revelation. To draw someone or something is to seek to know them/it deeply. Drawing visualises what lies hidden within. It begins at the genesis of our thoughts, made visible through hand and eye motions, translating the essence of what we feel, see, and love. Queerness, much like drawing, reveals the truth of who we are. To draw and to be queer is to visualise what the world makes invisible. Learning to draw is to learn to really see the world as it is and can be. As drawing requires close observation so too the queer gaze is to see a subterranean world submerged in the margins. Queer people learn a finely tuned awareness of subtleties in apparency, dress, and demeanour to recognise queerness in others. Like a sketch being erased and redrawn, so too, queerness exists as a state of constant becoming, forever reimagined, challenged, and lived.

In a world and time where queerness is often erased, QUEER DRAWING brings it to the forefront. At its core, the exhibition examines the profound link between the act of drawing and the intimacy, fluidity, and revelation found within queerness. In this exhibition, queerness serves as both an inclusive identity for the LGBTQIA+ community and a fluid term for artistic expression, style, content, and concept. Each of the artists I curated into this exhibition, through expanded drawing, invites you into their own unique queer landscape. Spanning a variety of mediums and approaches from intricate observational sketches to bold, abstract gestures, the act of drawing becomes more than a medium of artistic expression. Drawing becomes a method of reclamation, a tool for honesty, and an exploration of love, desire, identity, community, and resistance.

In the following section, I will discuss the common themes of the 20 artists. These themes are grouped under several overarching topics that explore reclaiming history, queer spirituality, fluidity of gender, the queer body, personal narratives, as well as queer family and love. Collectively, these themes provide insights into diverse queer experiences, each characterized by a unique intersection of identity, medium, and mark-making.

Historical Reclamation and Resistance

Several artists in this exhibition turn to the past, engaging with and subverting traditional historical narratives. Through the act of drawing, they challenge the structures that have historically erased or attacked queer people. Liz Bradshaw’s evocative text-based drawings interrogate evolving language of queerness through historical insults hurled at queer people such as Nancy Boy, Bent, and Mary. Employing mirroring and inversion, Bradshaw counters dominant histories, challenging this violent marginalisation embedded in history. In another text-based work, Carpet Burn, Yiorgos Zafiriou playfully responds to Leo Bersani’s seminal essay, Is the Rectum a Grave? through a drawing on carpet that confronts the stigma surrounding queer sexuality, particularly in relation to the AIDS crisis. Featuring pink and blue medieval heraldry, Zafiriou’s piece critically explores the medicalisation of the queer body through AIDS and the recent introduction of PrEP. The work highlights the fraught history of intimacy, risk, and survival that is intricately linked to queer health and sexuality. Kurt Schranzer’s mesmerisingly detailed drawing references Japanese Musha-e (warrior pictures) and Western modernism in exploring identity and alter-egos. Using the alter-ego Lop-Lop, Schranzer delves into impersonation, fluidity, and camouflage, illustrating how queer people have historically used disguise and artifice as forms of survival and resistance.

The Sacred and the Sublime

Queer individuals often have a complex relationship with religion and spirituality, yet they are frequently drawn to explore it through art. Queerness frequently hides in subtle symbolism and references within modern religions, whispering to the more historically loud queerness proclaimed in human appetites of the ancient mythologies. Queer artists question and reinterpret sacred narratives through a queer lens, using drawing as a medium to reimagine religious and mythological histories. Jake Alexander Cruz’s queer shrine, Ornamental II, merges Filipino cultural and religious motifs with sacred architectural aesthetics, creating an imagined fluid space infused with queer symbolism. Through ornamentation, Cruz transforms sacred spaces into a queer liminal zone where identity intersects with religion and culture, allowing for a deeper understanding of the intersectionality of queer identity. Andrew Nicholls creates a detailed altar-like depiction of four friends, representing them as personifications of demon kings. The artwork draws on esoteric traditions and mythology to explore themes of queer spirituality and community. Through themes of gender fluidity, archetypes, and queer kinship, Nicholls transforms ritualistic practices into a queer altar, highlighting the intersections of queerness, spirituality, and identity. Luke Thurgate’s reimagining of Anthony Van Dyck’s Daedalus and Icarus through a queer lens, with masked and cloaked figures embodying the tensions of desire, restraint, menace, and pathos. It explores the monster as a signifier of queer subjectivity, blending gravitas and camp to challenge and subvert traditional Western art and mythology.

The Fluidity of Gender

Gender is often fluid, especially within queer communities. Both Trans and non-Trans queer artists have explored the transformative, performative, and fluid nature of gender, celebrating its ambiguity and the power of self-expression through drawing. Kim Leutwyler’s deeply moving drawing reveals the artist’s true gender identity following top surgery, showcasing the emotional and personal complexities of this journey. This piece powerfully visualises Leutwyler’s courageous journey towards self-actualisation and self-expression, presenting a powerful narrative of transformation. Samuel Beatty’s beautiful hand-painted, hand-quilted indigo-dyed quilt traces the artist’s journey from a tomboy childhood to affirming their gender post-transition. Through textile art, Beatty weaves together the past and present, offering a tactile affirmation of gender identity and a moving message to their inner child. Jodi Clark’s surreal and playful drawing of a cat wearing fishnets and a corset subverts traditional gender binaries. It emphasizes the uncomfortable, the strange, and the rejected in an effort to resist heteronormative norms. Clark’s work uses humour to challenge our expectations and celebrates a queerness that is often marginalized and taboo.

The Queer Body

Queer bodies have historically faced violence, erasure, and legal persecution. However, in these works, they transform into spaces of celebration, tenderness, and desire. The queer gaze recognises other queer bodies, just as the act of drawing them uncovers hidden details.
It’s all about knowing how to look. Michael Simms’s mysterious and intriguing Unholy Ghosts is experimental in nature and delves into the concept of the queer body in motion. It uses both spontaneous and intentional mark-making to highlight the tension between control and liberation. Simm’s captures the kinaesthetic energy of the body and explores queer identity through the contrast of conscious and unconscious movements, depicting the queer body in a fluid motion. Gareth Ernst’s life drawing performance, set for the opening night, is inspired by Marlene Dietrich’s iconic gorilla suit strip in Blonde Venus. This performance features an anonymous model in a gorilla suit and explores themes of race, gender, and queer desire. Through the act of drawing from life, the work examines the tension between the hidden and the exposed, mirroring the hidden and exposed nature of the queer body. Graham Robertson’s intimate drawing of two male figures in contemplative poses explores themes of masculinity and gay love, focusing on bodily vulnerability. By referencing classical artistic traditions, Robertson delves into the emotional complexities of queer relationships. He moves away from rigid stereotypes of masculinity, offering a more intimate and nuanced representation of male figures.

The Personal is Political

Artists often use drawing as a therapeutic tool to explore deeply personal issues. In QUEER DRAWING, artists express their inner conflicts regarding self-worth, personal symbolism, and heartbreak. Dan Gladden’s provocative and confessional artwork, created during a time of isolation, examines the performative aspects of identity and self-worth. It explores themes of queer self-exploration and personal growth. The reflective nature of the work raises profound questions about visibility, identity, and the complexities of queer self-image and the self-worth of gay men. In Jack Buckley’s detailed drawing and embroidered work, I gave him a native violet, the Australian violet becomes a personal symbol of queer connection. Through intricate threadwork, Buckley weaves a story of personal and collective queer histories, expanding the definition of drawing into a tactile and intimate medium for storytelling. Tango Conway’s poetic drawing, with its layered imagery and text, weaves grief, love, and resilience together. Through the combination of painted fabric and carbon-copy lines, Conway’s drawing mirrors her vulnerability and healing within queer intimacy, marking the interplay of tenderness
and pain.

Queer Family

Queer individuals often identify their biological families as well as their chosen families. Many find love and acceptance within a family they choose rather than the one they were born into. Jeff McCann's text-based work addresses this reality, celebrating the role of chosen families and their importance within the LGBTQIA+ community. The work emphasises the significance of community and chosen kinship in queer identities, honouring relationships that go beyond biological connections. Keroshin’s moving work, created with indigo-dyed fabric and found materials, reflects the artist's imagined life with children, and the complex journey many queer people face in creating a family. The artwork explores how queer identity can be shaped by the legacies of diaspora, as well as the exclusion that queer people of colour often face in both ethnic and LGBTQIA+ communities.

The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name

In essence, QUEER DRAWING serves as a love letter to both drawing
and my diverse queer community. Queerness encompasses so much more than just sexual orientation or identity; ultimately, it is about love. Scott Elk’s loving charcoal drawing of his partner in repose explores alternative masculinities and challenges traditional representations of male beauty, particularly regarding what bodies are considered beautiful within the gay community. Through gestural marks and a soft fluidity between figure and abstraction, the drawing evokes both a celebration and documentation of a queer intimacy that is tender and deeply personal. One of the highlights of the exhibition is Herk Alexander’s masterful drawing, The River in My Eyes. Herk presents a highly detailed drawing of Emperor Hadrian’s lover Antinous, one of the most reproduced faces in history, focusing on the queer gaze in the eyes of this striking figure. This drawing reflects on the history of ancient queer love, offering a poignant look at the ways in which queerness has been documented and erased in historical narratives. Antinous gazes out through history as a symbol of eternal queer love. Finally, my drawing titled Jared serves as both a portrait of the boy I love, my boyfriend, Jared, and a representation of love itself. The drawing was inspired by a photo taken while clubbing – on the dance floor, laser lights formed a radiant halo around him, evoking the divine beauty often seen in the religious iconography of saints. I blend the spiritual reference with the elegance of Art Nouveau portraits, using flowing lines and intricate floral details to capture Jared’s essence and my love for him.

Drawing is an inherently queer act. It is fluid, unfixed, and continually transforming, just like queerness itself. Each drawn mark serves as an act of visibility, bringing the invisible into view. To draw is to question, to explore, and to reimagine what we think we know. In this exhibition, 20 artists invite us into their personal queer landscapes, utilizing mark-making to uncover hidden worlds, celebrate love and intimacy, resist historical marginalisation, and reimagine the fluidity of identity. Here, queerness is not merely a subject to be depicted; it is a process of continual transformation, creating a space for experimentation, reclamation, and discovery. Ultimately, this exhibition is a love letter to two of my passions, drawing and the queer community. I encourage all visitors, whether queer or straight, to challenge their biases and reconsider accepted conventions. Look again, look closely, and you will discover many uncharted lands of love.