Because collecting queer histories is like making queer art.

This event takes place at the British Library.

Artist and educator Laura Migliorino reflects on the parallels and points of contact between the act of collecting and preserving LGBTQ+ histories and the making of queer art. 

Drawing on her own photographic exploration of the Tretter Collection at the University of Minnesota, Migliorino explores how archiving is a creative act, especially for marginalised communities, and how art can offer documentary witness to minoritised identities and experiences. Finally, she asks us to consider whether the archive is itself a work of art.

Laura Migliorino trained at The Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Minnesota and she teaches at Anoka-Ramsey Community College near Minneapolis. Her work is in the collections of major American museums including the Walker Art Center and the Weisman Museum of American Art, and she has published work in publications including the Huffington Post, DOMUS Magazine and DWELL. She has been an Affiliated Fellow at The American Academy in Rome, and was the Eccles Centre Fulbright Scholar at The British Library in 2022.

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