A special event celebrating diversity, inclusiveness, and LGBTQIA+ related research, featuring a performance, artist talk, and more.
Join us on Wednesday May 17 to mark the 18th International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersex Discrimination and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) at Science Gallery Melbourne. Prof Joy Damousi will MC this special event, which will feature a talk by a curator and artist from the BREAK THE BINARIES exhibition, a video screening highlighting the LGBTQIA+ related expertise of University of Melbourne staff and students, and a performance by Mama Alto (TBC). A cross-Faculty initiative, this year’s event aims to celebrate diversity, inclusiveness, and the wide range of work researchers at the University are doing to raise awareness of LGBTQIA+ discrimination, in solidarity with LGBTQIA+ communities.
More information about the speakers:
Prof Joy Damousi is Australian Research Council Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellow and Professor of History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of numerous books, including The Labour of Loss: Mourning, Memory, and Wartime Bereavement in Australia (Cambridge, 1999) and Living with the Aftermath: Trauma, Nostalgia and Grief in Post-war Australia (Cambridge, 2001), among others.
BREAK THE BINARIES is an exhibition at The Science Gallery (18 February – 17 June 2023) featuring installations from local and international artists that present a playful and kaleidoscopic view of identity and genders, and their relationship with science, technology, culture, race, sexuality and creativity. A curator and contributing artist will discuss the exhibition in relation to IDAHOBIT.
Mama Alto (to be confirmed) is a jazz singer, cabaret artiste, and gender transcendent diva. She is a transgender & queer person of colour, living with disability, who works with the radical potential of storytelling, strength in softness and power in vulnerability. She has served as CEO of Transgender Victoria (2021-2022), Board Member of Switchboard Victoria (2020-2022), Artist Development Coordinator at Midsumma Festival (2020-2021), and has sat on various advisory groups to government and industry.
Celebrating Diversity: Researchers’ Stories is a video project featuring University of Melbourne staff and students who work on LGBTQIA+ related research. The video will be captioned.
Further information:
Accessibility: The venue is wheelchair accessible. Auslan interpretation will be provided.
Registration: All welcome, but registration is required. Light refreshments will be provided.
Format: This event will be held in-person only.
