Let Us Eat Cake

Let Us Eat Cake is a series of photographs created over a 9 month period by Anthony Luvera and LGBTQ+ people living across Northern Ireland. Let Us Eat Cake consists of Collaborative Self-Portraits, a limited edition publication (with an essay by Edwin Coomasaru of The Courtauld Institute of Art), and an online blog charting the process of collaboration between Luvera and participants www.letuseatcake.blog

In 2017 the rights of LGBTQ+ people across the United Kingdom may appear to be equal and secure. However, in Northern Ireland today, marriage equality for queer people does not exist as it does elsewhere in the UK or in the Republic of Ireland. Reported homophobic hate crimes have risen year on year for almost a decade, and hate crime against trans people is not even accounted for within the law. Additionally, political activities taking place in Stormont related to LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, HIV and AIDS, and creationism, have contributed to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (a federation of campaigning organisations from 132 countries) to rate NI as the worst place for queer people in the United Kingdom.

As part of Let Us Eat Cake, Luvera worked with participants in workshops, meetings and through online platforms to compile research, create photographs and publish a blog that explores these issues, and reflect on what it means to be queer in Northern Ireland today.Traditional archives and Youtube were used to explore and document historical perspectives of queer people in NI, and a poly-vocal blog co-created by Luvera and participants charted current experiences and the process of the making of this socially-engaged work. Photography facilitated the expression of feeling and experiences and encapsulated for public understanding some pivotal issues for the co-producers and key life changing issues for LGBTQ people, including the ability to give blood, same sex marriage, having a family/children, and gender recognition.

The work was first shown in the Belfast Exposed Photography gallery from 10 November to 23 December 2017, as part of the Outburst Arts Festival, before going on tour to venues in Newry, Derry and Sligo. Let Us Eat Cake celebrates the LGBTQ+ communities of Northern Ireland, calling into question issues of identity, representation and equality.