Celebrating Queer Nightlife, The Victorian Pride Centre Presents “Impossible Dance” The Photography Of Matto Lucas
Matto Lucas is an Australian photographer, artist, curator and lecturer who is largely recognised for his works featuring LGBTQIA+ content. Lucas’ new exhibition is titled Impossible Dance and consists of a collection of black-and-white photographs exploring and heralding the queer community prior to the pandemic.
Impossible Dance will be exhibited at the Victorian Pride Centre in the Pride Gallery from August 18.
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Matto Lucas’ work captures the vibrance of queer spaces. In Impossible Dance, he celebrates, canonises and represents the LGBTQIA+ community at its most authentic.
Lucas says, “To bring together these photographic works to exhibit at the Pride Centre, that celebrate, remember and promote queer peoples and queer spaces, from my photography practice over the last decade and a half, makes me feel so incredibly proud and excited.”
The title of the exhibition derives from the Fiona Buckland book of the same name. In her critical works, Buckland explores mimesis, individualism, queerness, politics and pleasure. These themes and ideologies are heavily influential in Matto Lucas’ collection and tell the tales of community-building in queer spaces.
Pride Centre CEO Justine Dalla Riva says, “Impossible Dance captures the vibrancy and diversity of queer spaces and highlights how they are so important for community connection and celebration. We are excited to showcase the works of Matto Lucas as the first exhibition programmed by our Visual Arts Working Group!”
Visual Arts Working Group member, Lisa Anderson, believes Lucas reaches true engagement with the queer spaces he works and lives among. “The strength of creativity that came from our communities in answer to our invitation to exhibit is embodied in the series of exhibitions selected for 2022/23.
“Matto Lucas’ works demonstrate a level of professional engagement with his community embodied in the black-and-white images. The works engage the particular shared experience in seemingly random bodies and gestures allowing us to gaze directly into the shadows to find exquisite contact,” she says.
The Impossible Dance exhibition will be on display from Thursday, August 18 at the Victorian Pride Centre. To find out more information about the Pride Centre visual arts programming, visit the website here.
