“Is That a Boy’s Toy?” – new show in Brixton Library

“Is That a Boy’s Toy?” is a new show at Brixton’s Tate Library to mark LGBTQ+ history month. Curated by local queer artist, Xavier White, the show includes over 50 artworks which explore, illuminate and celebrate LGBTQ+ lives and experience. What is Queer Art? Xavier defines it not simply as work produced by LGBTQ+ artists, but as intentional art which makes a statement about queer experience or has the individual’s identity at its centre. So these pieces come with a story.

The work spans a wide variety of media including paint on canvas, digital art, sculpture and photography. First impressions are of bold, bright, colourful pieces which easily draw the eye. But underneath the surface lie complex, often intimate narratives. The show is about making visible lives which throughout history have too often been hidden, and addressing very directly the kinds of discrimination and obstacles faced by LGBTQ+ people. So the personal is mixed with the political; individual experiences become platforms for campaigning messages. This is art as activism. Given the nature of LGBTQ+ lives, there is a duality throughout the show; images of trauma and joy, pleasure and pain, celebration and anger. Some pieces do not give up their meaning at first glance, but you will need to understand the backstory. A good example is 16 Childhood Memories by Marty Davies and Xavier White. This is a moving, but not immediately obvious, insight into the lives of trans people. 

Amidst the serious comments, there is fair amount of playfulness in the show. Its very title can be read in different ways for different situations and is deliberately ambiguous. Toys, which have always been used to reinforce gender stereotypes and notions of masculinity and femininity, feature in a number of pieces. As Xavier explained “Toys are the very first ways that someone tries to enforce our identity ….and society starts to shape and mould us.” But the use of toys is nuanced, and references notions both of reclaiming childhood and becoming sexually aware and active as an adult. Posing questions, challenging orthodoxies and interrogating their cultural significance, many works use and place toys to provoke a debate about how identity is shaped through play.

Xavier hopes that people will be drawn to the show initially because it looks like fun – “a sweetshop to the eye of a child” – and is easy to relate to. But there is a serious message as well. LGBTQ+ rights and communities are under threat across the globe. This show opens a window on their world.

“Is That a Boy’s Toy?” runs in Brixton’s Tate Library, Windrush Square until 27 February. For further information call 020 7926 1058 or visit https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/libraries-0/brixton-tate-library