For more than two years, a team of lcoal members from the community worked with Queer Curator E-J Scott to make the Queer the Pier exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. The ethos was that it was to be an exhibition about the community, by the community.
The Queer the Pier exhibition was founded on the premise that Brighton and Hove's current reputation for creativity and inclusivity is founded on it's long history of LGBTIQ+ community artistry, protest and visibility. The community curatorial team therefore wanted to challenge the premise that "bed notch" proof was required to evidence the existence of a local LGBTIQ+ past. Using a postcard depicting Brighton Palace Pier, the exhibition opens by asking the viewer instead, to prove who WASN'T queer? The reverses the premise and makes it obvious the disproportionate levels of proof required by the queer community to have their existence recognised, as compared with the straight community.