LGBTQIA+ Artists and Artworks You Should Know

To continue our celebration of the brilliant LGBTQIA+ artists and creatives who explore gender identity themes both on and off Zealous, we have put together a list of 10 creatives that you should know.

Livvy Mitchell

‘Italian Sausage Hero’ by Livvy Mitchell

Livvy is a graphic designer, art director and illustrator with an interest in editorial, print and identity design. This piece, ‘ITALIAN SAUSAGE HERO’, is from the series ‘Secret Parade’. As a series of experimental collages using scannography, composition, and colour, these works explore gender, sexuality and the body.

You can see more of Livvy’s work on their website and Instagram.

Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley

Still from ‘SHE KEEPS ME DAMN ALIVE’ by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley is a London-based artist who creates work that seeks to archive black trans experience. In Danielle’s exhibition SHE KEEPS ME DAMN ALIVE, Danielle’s methodology of gaming and interactivity invited the viewer to shoot to protect black trans people, a call-to-action which forms part of a larger framework in Danielle’s practice which promotes accountability and protection of the black trans community and beyond. This medium challenged the audience to recentre their understanding of responsibility through powerplay, choice and (in)action.  

You can find more of Danielle’s work on their website and Instagram

Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos)

‘Pswagi Temahahoi’ by Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos)

Anchi Lin [Ciwas Tahos] is a performance and new media artist of Taiwanese Indigenous Atayal and Hō-ló descent based in Taipei, Taiwan. The piece featured, ‘Pswagi Temahahoi’, is made up of video and photography which follows the path taken by Atayal Elder Yumin, who uses a technique named ‘pswagi’, which utilises the Indigenous knowledge of sunlight and shade, to trace the locations of wild bees. The artist explains the meaning of the title best: ‘Pswagi is a looking and bodily skill. Temahahoi is a nearly forgotten Atayal oral story about a space where only women (queer) live.’

You can find more of Ciwas’ work on their website and Instagram.

Ally Rosenberg

‘Friday Night Pisher‘ by Ally Rosenberg

Ally Rosenberg is a London-based sculptor from Manchester. His work ‘Friday Night Pisher’ is inspired by the story behind Ally’s family nickname and childhood memory of binging fizzy drinks on Friday nights, then subsequently wetting the bed in night terrors. Battling both fantasy and reality, as well as consciousness and unconsciousness, Ally explains: ‘This piece made me think about how suppression of appetites and repression of desires can lead to overindulgence and self-sabotage.’  

You can find more of Ally’s work on their website and Instagram

Francesca Menghini

‘Rosalie’ by Francesca Menghini

Francesca Menghini is an Italian photographer based in Amsterdam. ‘Rosalie’ is a part of the photography series ‘Unbounded – Being gender diverse’, which presents a collection of portraits and personal statements that give space for individuals to be seen and heard in her representation of gender diversity. As the subject on the photo says: ‘Now I keep reminding myself that it’s enough to exist as a human, and there’s no mold to fit into’.

You can find more of Francesca’s work on her website and Instagram.

Clifford Prince King

‘Act IV’ by Clifford Prince King

Clifford Prince King is an artist living and working in New York and Los Angeles. Capturing his intimate relationships as a queer black man in traditional and everyday settings, Clifford’s photographs rejoice in the complex nature of human identity. ‘Act IV’ is one of IV acts in his photography series ‘ACTS of service’ which showcases traditional forms of care, paying homage to previous generations who performed service to those often unworthy of care.  

You can find more of Clifford’s work on their website and Instagram

Whiskey Chow

‘you must everywhere wander 你必顧盼’ by Whiskey Chow

Whiskey Chow is London-based performance artist and Chinese drag king. ‘You must everywhere wander 你必顧盼’ is a hybrid of filmed performance, CGI animation and sound art drawing on Chinese myth and a sense of belonging from an Asian queer diasporic perspective. As Whiskey puts it: ‘I invite audiences into an other-worldly queer dreamality; creating a welcoming, intimate atmosphere in a digital realm which celebrates queer Asian diasporic and other marginalised identity.’.

You can find more of Whiskey’s work on their website and Instagram.

Gori Mora

‘Walk-ins welcome’ by Gori Mora

Goria Mora is a Spanish painter working in Glasgow whose provocative paintings often play with perspective and are full of queer sexual tension. Gori states: ‘my work speaks of the innate human desire for intimacy and connection, and the fragility inherent within that desire’. ‘Walk-ins welcome’ is one of many works created by Gori’s unorthodox process of painting backwards in layers of perspex oils, so the end result is the backside of the original painting.  

You can find more of Gori’s work on their website and Instagram

Oly Bliss

Portrait from #SoftLads by Oly Bliss

Oly Bliss is a Worcester-based embroidery artist who uses textiles as a starting point to explore themes of gender, identity and sexuality within his personal practice. This embroided portrait is part of Oly’s series #SoftLads, which explores the portrayal of masculine identity and selfdom through social media. Oly stitches portraits of men with facial and body tattoos in celebration of how they curate themselves online. 

You can find more of Oliver’s work on their website and Instagram

Christina Quarles

‘New Moon’ by Christina Quarles

Christina Quarles is a painter living and working in Los Angeles. Her paintings grapple with Quarles’ identity being a Woman fair skinned with Black ancestry, and her daily experience with ambiguity as a queer cis Woman. ‘New Moon’ captures the dislocated feeling of Christina’s work, as an excess of disorganised bodies tangle and intertwine in a colourful fragmented landscape.  

You can find more of Christina’s work on their website and Instagram


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Bethan Jayne Goddard

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