On Friday the 10th of November we celebrated the official launch of our Let Us Eat Cake exhibition at Belfast Exposed. This was the culmination of the photographic work we created with Anthony Luvera over a 9-month period.
Of course, there is a lot more to the project than just the photographs which made it onto the walls. Other than the Collaborative Self-Portraits, there were other experiments for making images, many group discussions and debates, a publication, and, of course, this online blog you are currently reading. That said, it’s still important to open some of the tangible evidence from our project up to the public. It helps to educate, raise awareness, get conversations going, reach out to those who may not have been exposed to this content and to give a platform to LGBTQ+ people living across Northern Ireland, whose voices are rarely heard.
It was a great evening – getting together with the other participants, organisers and the public to celebrate our work felt really meaningful. It was so good to catch up with each other and chat about everything in a relaxed atmosphere, after many months of hard work. Seeing the exhibition for the first time felt emotional – it was particularly moving to see the names on the wall.
I would like to take this moment to express my personal gratitude to all the members of the project, especially Anthony, who guided us as we found our creative voices.
– Rachael
