Sharing Heritage
Recently established LGBTQ+ charity Queer Britain trained volunteers to record memories for a new online archive, Virtually Queer. They focused on the theme of women who have made a difference, contrasting activism and vulnerability from suffragette campaigners to trans-activists like Christine Burns.
The films formed a touring exhibition, ‘our naked skin,’ which accompanied a drama production about a love affair between two suffragettes. Visitors could watch and listen to stories and then share their own experiences at two recording kiosks.
The exhibition inspired a second phase of memory recording, in particular filming South East Asian, transgender, disabled and older people whose stories are often missing from LGBTQ+ heritage collections. Queer Britain continues to work with museums and academics across the world to preserve valuable stories and artefacts before they are lost.
Joseph Galliano, CEO of Queer Britain said: “A 16-year-old trans woman told me she never saw people like herself reflected honestly back at her. She had not been aware of the work of Christine Burns, but told me (through tears) that she felt really moved and uplifted to hear Christine tell her story.”