Untold Stories from the LGBT+ Community in North Staffordshire

The New Vic Theatre – 15 September – 12 October
Spode Museum – 19 September – 30 November 
Hanley Library – 8 October – 30 November
Stoke Library – 10 October – 16 November

The exhibitions bring together new photography, archive images and personal stories to celebrate LGBT+ lives shaped by identity, activism, place and social change.  ALWAYS HERE is a socially engaged photography and heritage project that through workshops, meetings, interviews, photoshoots, research and oral histories, has seen participants sharing their experiences and defining life moments. The project celebrates people who have made remarkable contributions to life in North Staffordshire across culture, industry, education, healthcare, social care, housing, retail, engineering, politics and community activism.

The exhibitions include new portraits by Ming de Nasty and Daniel Lyttleton, and archive photographs, documents, texts and objects belonging to the individuals that illustrate their stories.  Following the exhibitions the content will become a new digital LGBT+ Public Archive at the Stoke-on-Trent City Archives based at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.

The project was produced by GRAIN Projects in partnership with The North Midlands LGBT+ Older Peoples Group, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England.  We would also like to thank our exhibition partners Spode Museum, New Vic Theatre and Stoke-on-Trent Libraries, and our legacy partner the Stoke-on-Trent City Archives.