Paintings, jewellery, sculpture and photographs will be up for grabs at an exhibition in Wellington next week to support InsideOUT’s mission to make New Zealander a safer place for our youth. The exhibition will run from Monday 17 August to Sunday 23 August at Matchbox Studios, at 166 Cuba Street. The art will be on sale throughout the week, with an auction at 6pm on Friday 21 August. InsideOUT’s National Coordinator Tabby Besley says more than 40 artists and craftspeople have contributed a wide range of works, which have been priced to be as affordable as possible. “Most of the artworks will go for between $20 and $400, providing a really great opportunity for people to support our work and pick up something new to wear or display at the same time,” she says. “All the artists involved have given so generously and we’re hoping a lot of people will come along to both the exhibition and the auction.” Contributing artists include Mica Still, Pinky Fang, Deano Shirrifs, Jamie Mackman, Joe Mcmenamin, Lucita Peek, Lucille Rauscher, Ellaquaint, Toby Morris, Minu, Sophie Oisea, Rika Nagahata, Scott Savage, Nathan M, Grimoire, Zach Webber – and many more. There will also be entertainment and refreshments on the auction night, which Besley says will be a fun event which will hopefully also raise a good amount of money to help InsideOUT continue its work with young people. “InsideOUT is run by young people, for young people, and all of the money from this fundraiser will help us to support those facing issues such as homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying at school,” she says. “Our work making schools across New Zealand safer is vital for the positive health and wellbeing of lgbtqia youth around the country, but currently our capacity is really limited by a lack of funding. The money raised will enable us to reach out and support even more young people.” The 23-year-old is recently back in New Zealand after being given a Queen’s Young Leader Award at Buckingham Palace, largely due to her work with InsideOUT. The organisation supports students to set up queer straight alliance groups in high schools, and was inspired by Besley’s positive experience of coming out with the support of a similar group at Nayland College in Nelson. “There are still a huge number of young people facing bullying and discrimination in their schools and communities because of their sexual orientation or gender, and InsideOUT works alongside them to change that,” she says.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 12th August 2015 - 9:13am