Review of The
Gay Icons Exhibition at The
National Portrait Gallery

Having read so much about this exhibition we headed out on a gorgeous July day. We had been to The Portrait Gallery the year before to see the Vanity Fair Exhibition, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I love Annie Leibovitz photographs and to see them in such a great surrounding was wonderful. 

I had read mixed reviews about The Gay Icons Exhibition so was keen to see it with my own eyes. The first bonus was the gorgeous picture of k d lang that greeted us on many a tube station wall. A lovely shot of her I would say during the Ingénue tour.

It was very busy as always at the gallery but we made our way through the throng to the main event. A very interesting premise for an exhibition but I wasn’t sure it really came off.

We wanted to see gay people up on those walls not really the Billie Jean King family album! Loved the shot of Ellen needless to say and I hadn’t seen that one before so that was a big plus.

The pictures were wonderful. The pictures of the people choosing were as good if not better than those actually for the exhibition. It was very poignant to read the brief descriptions that went with the pictures. 

I know in this day and age it really isn’t much to be gay but even when that picture of k d was being taken; it was a completely different world. I remember it well, a world of fear and secrets. So to see those faces up there out and proud was fantastic validation. 

It was interesting to see the cross section of people who influenced the selectors - Sarah waters for instance choosing Kenneth Williams and Daphne Du Maurier.

I found some of the most interesting pictures were the ones of the academics or people who had really made a difference. Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) campaigner for women's rights, Alan Turing (1912-1954) mathematician and widely seen as the inventor of the computer to name but two.

Sandi Tosvig as ever said it best when she said: ‘How I wish this selection had been available to me when I was young.... How inspirational to have had portraits of the great and the good staring out at me telling me that I was not by any measure on my own.’