You Are Here Too presents a collection of works by contemporary Australian artists exploring queer desire and sexuality. It serves as both a celebration and a response to the groundbreaking 1992 show You Are Here at the Institute of Modern Art, which made history as Australia’s first exhibition featuring exclusively gay artists during the height of the AIDS crisis.
Thirty-three years later, this contemporary reflection examines the evolution of LGBTQI+ expression in Australia, showcasing new and existing works that present queer desire as ‘amorphous, fluid, temporal, retreating, explicit, abstracted and political.’ Featured artists include Holly Bates, Nick Breedon, Alexis Kanatsios, Gian Manik, and Yangamini, with performances by Leen Rieth, Crystal Love, and others.
The show has been curated by the Kink collective, adjunct curators at the Institute of Modern Art. It emphasises First Nations and trans experiences as central to the exhibition, noting that they can’t be contained by the same narratives that dominated queer history and culture in previous generations. The exhibition is complemented by a film and video program.
Kink is a cross-disciplinary working group researching and formalising a history of queer Australian art and an Adjunct Curator at the IMA. It currently comprises art historian Amelia Barikin, artist and facilitator Courtney Coombs, artist and researcher Callum McGrath, artist and educator Spiros Panigirakis, and art historian and curator Tim Riley Walsh. Its members are based in Meanjin/Brisbane, Naarm/Melbourne, and Gadigal/Sydney.
Content Warning: This exhibition contains coarse language and sexual themes.
Image: Holly Bates ‘House of Whoreship’ 2022.
