AN art show about alienation featuring creations from young LGBT people has opened in Carlisle.
Aliens, put on by charitable group PiNC Arts, opened in Carlisle market on February 10.
It features sculptures of alien heads, paintings, and has interactive elements.
But underneath the colourful and whimsical appearance, a message of alienation felt by much of the young queer community in Carlisle set the tone.
READ MORE: Alien art show by young LGBT creators to be hosted in Carlisle
Its opening day went off well, as Emily Ford, one of the leaders of PiNC Arts - which works to promote art and art education to young LGBT people - explained: “The public responded well, and I think there was something powerful about having a queer presence in the town centre.
“Speaking to a lot of the young people who came in, there were many who didn’t know about PiNC and were pleased just to see something was happening like this, and that we’ve established this presence – we’re a positive addition to this city, we’re making all this beautiful artwork.
“We got in touch with a lot of local artists, and had some out from West Cumbria,” she said, giving a young artist known as Merrick from Workington as an example, who was presenting their character art for the first time.
“The photoshoot area was lots of fun, you could dress up as an alien... fun for the kids and the adults enjoyed it too.”
The sculptures were titled by their given character names: Sarah the Girlboss; Dozy Dave; King Jeremy Chadwick IV; and Greg, the fan favourite.
“We had some great conversations with people about the alienation of queer people in this city, and while it was loads of fun, and colourful, we had people thinking about what it feels like to be alienated where you life, and the effect community can have on people,” Emily explained.
She said engagement with straight, cisgender people in particular proved fruitful as a way to communicate something that can be hard to articulate for many of the young artists.
Also present was filmmaker Sophie Broadgate who was documenting the artists’ progress for an ongoing two-year documentary project about the charity and its people.
READ MORE: Documenting authentic experiences of queer youth in Cumbrian documentary film
The show will run until February 17.
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