Martin Green and James Lawler are DuoVision, co-curators of The Holly Johnson Story, in partnership with National Museums Liverpool and Homotopia.
The Holly Johnson Story opens on 14 September 2024 running until Sunday 27 July 2025. Book your tickets here
DuoVision has worked extensively with the LGBTQIA+ creative community since 2012, curating exhibitions by undervalued artists, photographers and designers, aimed at engaging with a wider audience.
Until 2020, they curated exhibitions at The Gallery, Liverpool, featuring artists including Duggie Fields, Caroline Coon, Pam Hogg, Peter Ashworth, Jarvis Cocker, Marc Almond and more. Since then, DuoVision have curated exhibitions at; Cartier, Paris; Potteries Museum, Stoke on Trent; Gallery46, Whitechapel, London; Fitzrovia Chapel, London; Tramps, London; TCFE, Soho, London.
“There are many artists who haven’t had the recognition they deserve”, says Martin, “and central to our work has been the ethos of casting a light on both the quality of the work they have produced, as well as making the artworld see them in a different light”.
This began with Duggie Fields, the late British artist, who Duovision exhibited in the Gallery in 2012 with the show Welcome To My World.
“Duggie’s work was evocative of a certain era and culture of British art and identity that blended pop culture references, music, queer identity, post punk, flamboyance and dazzling colour. He was chronically overlooked by the art world so this exhibition was a stamp, a mark in the ground to say ‘you have to recognise how important this artist is”.
Welcome to My World featured paintings, prints, objects and sculpture from Duggie’s archive and work that had featured in solo shows in London, Tokyo and New York.
Through Duggie, DuoVision met Caroline Coon, an iconic figure of the counterculture, known as a photographer and campaigner, but whose visual art was not well known.
“In 2018 we held the first solo show by Caroline Coon at The Gallery, The Great Offender. It was Caroline’s introduction to the artworld as this fully formed, astonishingly talented and yet overlooked artistic figure”.
That exhibition catapulted Coon into the artworld, positioning her a vital figure within the narrative of female art.
“Too often in the artworld, people are put into a certain box early in their career and they stay there. If we do truly want to be both diverse and inclusive, we have to give people the freedom and ability to evolve through their life and artistic journey. The artist you begin your career as when you are young isn’t the same one you will be as you age. Giving the ability to document and exhibit that journey is a huge part of fully embedding the artist experience within culture”.
In 2018 other exhibitions featured the British fashion designer Pam Hogg and photographer Peter Ashworth.
The Holly Johnson Story is an exhibition part of this tradition about seeing creatives in a different light from the one they have been perceived.
“My personal journey began with Holly in 1982” says James, “when I saw him perform with the unsigned Frankie Goes to Hollywood art at my art college. His openness about his sexuality was affirming and influential during a time of rampant homophobia. In the 80s, Holly was one of the musicians whose unapologetic approach to their own sexuality helped shift mainstream understanding and acceptance”
“We approached Holly about doing this exhibition. Then we talked to Homotopia about securing Heritage Lottery funding and they, with other partners, helped us to work on the application, which was successful. Then we partnered with National Museums Liverpool for an exhibition space”.
The Holly Johnson Story is open until Sunday 27 July 2025.
Book your tickets here
Read about the exhibition here
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