Gender Stories at Walker Art Gallery

What is gender? How have ideas about it changed over time? How does it shape our day-to-day lives? These questions and more are explored in an exhibition co-created by National Museums Liverpool.

Gender Stories traces the spectrum of genders and their expression across time and place, examining how gender intersects with our sex, class, sexuality and heritage to shape who we are.

The exhibition features paintings, photography, film and personal objects spanning centuries

Gender Stories, a major exhibition about identity and self-expression, brings together artwork from Grayson Perry, David Hockney, James Tissot, and Antonia Showering, photography by Catherine Opie and Zanele Muholi, new film by Ebun Sodipo and Ree Bradley, and personal objects from a Suffragette teapot to a Liverpool LGBTQ+ football scarf.

The exhibition covers centuries of history through oil paintings, etchings, ceramics, textiles, sculpture and video. Historical works include a watercolour by Sarah Biffin, a celebrated miniaturist who was born without arms and painted using her mouth. Biffin won a medal from the Society of Arts, took commissions from the Royal Family, and spent her final years in Liverpool, where she is buried in St James’s Cemetery.

Charlotte Keenan, Head of Walker Art Gallery, said:

“Everyone has a lived experience of gender, and this exhibition creates space for visitors to reflect on their own while hearing from others. Working with communities across Liverpool has been central to bringing Gender Stories to the Walker, and we hope it will be a place for honest conversation and genuine connection.”

More photos can be seen here.

Gender Stories Glossary

Bi or bisexual

Someone who is emotionally, sexually or romantically attracted to more than one gender

Biohacking

A broad term that describes the practice of using science and technology to adjust physical and mental health. Within the trans community, it relates more specifically to ‘do-it-yourself’ approaches to hormone therapy and biological transition, usually to overcome medical gatekeeping

Cisgender / cis

Used to describe someone whose gender identity corresponds to their birth sex

Drag

The act of performing another gender, sometimes theatrically for entertainment. Drag kings impersonate men. Drag queens impersonate women

Genderfluid

A non-binary gender identity that is not fixed but changes over time

Gender binary

The artificial division of gender into just two distinct, opposing options: male or female / masculine or feminine

Gender expression

How a person presents themselves (for example, their clothes, hairstyle or behaviour)

Gender identity

How a person understands themselves (for example, a man, a woman, both, neither etc.)

Gender neutral

A term to describe things that are genderless and are for all genders. For example, gender neutral bathrooms can be used by anyone. The term is also used by some to describe their gender identity

Genderqueer

A non-binary gender identity that combines or moves between the binary genders, sometimes to directly challenge conventional ideas about gender

Gender roles

The social expectations for a person based on their gender, including their role in the home and family, jobs they are considered for, and how they should behave

Intersex

An umbrella term for people whose biology, including their bodies, hormones and/or chromosomes, do not match the typical definitions for male or female bodies. Intersex people may be any gender

LGBTQ+

An acronym that represents the main groups within the overall gay and transgender communities, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer people. The plus represents those who gender identity and/or sexuality is not represented by these categories

Non-binary

A broad term that can be used to describe any gender identity that is not one of the two binary genders (male and female)

Patriarchy

A system of society in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it

Queer

Once a term of abuse against the LGBTQ+ community, the word has been reclaimed by the community and is increasingly used as an alternative umbrella term to LGBTQ+. For some people, ‘queer’ specifically refers to those whose identities lie beyond traditional categories or sexuality and/or gender identity

Sexuality

Our physical, romantic and emotional attachment to others, e.g. straight or heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and asexual, among others. Sexuality is different to gender identity

Sex

Assigned to a person on the basis of their primary sex characteristics, particularly their genitalia and reproductive functions. Sometimes the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are interchanged but they are different things

Trans

An umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth

Lived Experience Narratives in Dementia (LEND)

We have been contacted by a research assistant at the University of Nottingham, regarding their research programme.

The “LEND” programme – Lived Experience Narratives in Dementia is catered to help those living with dementia, or unpaid carers of someone with dementia.

They are aiming to create a digital tool that shares people’s dementia stories that can foster empowerment, maintain identity and help people navigate the difficulties that come with a diagnosis or supporting a loved one. Currently, limited resources exist online for people of this community who are from underserved demographics, notably those from ethnic minorities and particularly individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+.

In the design, it is imperative to platform LGBTQIA+ voices to raise the accessibility and visibility of relatable stories that, in the current climate, are few and far between compared to the cisgender and heteronormative landscape of dementia exposure online. Highlighting these experiences is essential to bridge this research and care gap, which is why they host diverse Lived Experience Advisory Panel meetings so that the invaluable insight of real lived experience directly informs the study’s design and eventual outcome.

They would love to be able to share the voices of our community, and extend the invitation to sharing a story or lived experience of dementia. 

They welcome stories from:

• People living with any type of dementia who identify as LGBTQIA+, transgender, or non-binary.
• Partners, family members, friends and other supporters.
• People from all ages, cultures and ethnic backgrounds.

Every story matters. Whether it describes challenges, hope, resilience, relationships or everyday life, each narrative has the potential to help someone else feel recognised and understood.

Here is their website link: https://www.dementianarratives.org/

Terminal 2

Thursday, 1 October – 7.30pm – 8.35pm – Terminal 2 – Free

53two, Arch 19, Watson Street, Manchester M3 4LP

We have tickets for this new play – a comedy drama about death, grief and coming out in later life (believe it or not it is actually a comedy!) 

Trapped in a departure lounge thanks to a delayed plane, George and Lynda Sumner debate the meaning of life, the common bluebottle, sex tapes and the pros and cons of a KFC … but it soon becomes clear that Lynda’s journey is one way and that George has been hiding a painful secret for all of their married life …

Will George find the strength to support his wife to end her journey? Can Lynda help him to begin his own? Or will a series of emotional revelations divert both their plans?

If interested, please contact us here.