Artists: Grzegorz Pieniak (Poland), Stuart Sandford (United Kingdom), Daniel Torrent (Spain), David Jester (USA), Anuwat Apimukmongkon (Thailand), Juliusz Lewandowski (Poland), Doug Blanchard (USA), Fe Maidel (Brazil), Zaida Gonzalez (Chile).

Curator: Cheo González.

In June 2023, as part of Pride Month, the exhibition Dissident Affections: Sexual Diversity in Contemporary Art took place at the Latin America Memorial in São Paulo. It is the largest international exhibition of contemporary LGBTQIA+ art held in São Paulo to date. The exhibition showcased a selection from The Queer Museum’s collection and was organised in collaboration with the International Center for Diversity Culture (CICD), the Secretary of Culture and Creative Economy of the Government of the State of São Paulo, and Diversa.

The exhibition featured artists from countries including Brazil, Poland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Spain, among others, offering a comprehensive overview of the current work of LGBTQIA+ artists from diverse realities and cultural contexts around the world.

Historically, art has served as a fundamental means of expression for humanity. However, it was sexual dissidents who, driven by the need to convey emotions that could not be openly expressed due to religious and political repression but also could not be silenced, developed codes and camouflaged forms to communicate eroticism and emotions, adding complexity and depth to artistic expressions.

This is the spirit of Dissident Affections: Sexual Diversity in Contemporary Art—to celebrate artistic expressions that reclaim the diversity of sexualities existing in the world. The exhibition creates a snapshot of the art being produced by our community at this moment, sharing with the public the dialogues, codes, and narratives shaping contemporary art.