Nothing represents the spirit of the times and the resilience of the community as acutely and accurately as the annual London Trans+ Pride. Pride is a protest! It’s always a joy to support and document this ever growing event.
London Trans+ Pride 2024
London Trans+ Pride 2023
My annual report from London Trans+ Pride is here.
Queer Art(ists) Now - Private View
I documented the opening night of the 2022 edition of the Queer Art(ist) Now exhibition. Curated by Andrew Ellerby and presented as part of Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Festive, the show boasts work from 70 artists.
Adam Wilson Holmes - Adriann Ramirez - Aidan Reece Cawrey - Alex Billingham - Alex Matraxia - Alice Norfield - Amit Vadher - ANDI - Angelique Nagovskaya - Annalisa Hayes - Antonio Marguet - Autojektor - Bex Massey - Bobby Redmond - Chester Tenneson - Chierol Lai - Christopher Matthews - Craig Waddell - Cris - Daisy Blower - Daniel Jaen - Daniel Mark Welsh - Danielle Nebula - Diana Puntar - Diogo Duarte - Eleanor Louise West - Elijas Grybe - Eliza Goroya - Emily Witham, Esther Maltby - Fab Josh - Gsus Lopez - Guy Burch - Hat - Hayley Wall - J Frank - Jack Ryder x Fartun Abdulle - James Robert Morrison - Janine Shroff - Jeni Snell - João Saramago - Julieta Tetelbaum - Kit Griffiths - Krishna Shanthi - Lady Kitt, Lauren John Joseph - Liam Sielski Waters - Liberty Antonia Sadler - Luke Nichols - Maria Arvaniti - Maria Rosamojo - Matthew Gale - Miguel Maldonado - Mitko Karakolev - Mollie Balshaw - Nan Carreira - Nigel Grimmer - Oran Rose x Tâm Nguyễn x Sam Farrow - Orlando Myxx - Paul Sammut - Richard Sawdon Smith - Roux Malherbe - Sadie Lee - Sam Wingate - Sidney Westenskow - Simon the Last - Smart Barnett - Sophie Ansell - stav B - Studio Prokopiou - Taryn O'Reilly - Tom Coates - Tom Maryniak - Wayne lucas - Xinyuan Ma
Queer Art(ists) Now is hosted by Space Station Sixty-Five in Kennington and it’s open to visitors till 8th October.
London Trans Pride 2022
It was my third time at London Trans Pride, and as ever, it felt important to be there and support our trans siblings. I took some photos. Thank you everyone!
Loudest Whispers 2022 at Old Diorama Arts Centre
I started my collaboration with Old Diorama Arts Centre with documenting the opening of the Loudest Whispers exhibition.
‘Curated and presented by The Arts Project, the exhibition celebrates the strength and power of the LGBTQ+ community, including work from 34 artists linked to an open category and the theme of ‘Politics in Art’. It features both professionally trained and self-taught outsider artists as well as creative supporters of LGBTQ+ rights.’
London Trans Pride 2021
My photographic set/ report from London Trans Pride 2021.
The march, the beautiful crowd, some long not seen friends, fellow photographers at work, some wide angle situations, the streets, the speeches and as per usual, plenty of details.
Bishopsgate Institute LGBTQ+ Archives contribution
I’m excited to announce that my night life and queer movement documentary photography has been catalogued and archived by Bishopsgate Institute. The collection will be soon updated with some more of my archival club photography dating back to 2013. Bishopsgate Institute will reopen from May 17th, by appointment only.
https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/zbigniew-kotkiewicz-archive
London Trans Pride 2020
My photo report from London Trans Pride 2020. It was beautiful and powerful, you’re all beautiful and powerful! Thank you everyone!
*Solidarity is Our Weapon* Rainbow for Poland
Once again we gathered outside the Polish Embassy in London to show our solidarity with LGBTQ+ people in Poland.
The demo was organised by FARSA Feminists Artywists Society in Action., SLAV 4 U and Polish Rainbow in UK.
I Am Human - Solidarity Action Rainbow for Poland
Today’s seen another action of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ people in Poland outside the Polish Embassy in London. The event was attended by a beautiful, diverse crowd not only expressing their messages of support for our Polish siblings but also demanding equality and respect from the Polish authorities. It was wonderful to see everyone including the organisers from Polish Rainbow in UK and FARSA and also the All Out activists. The process of consistent dehumanising of our community in the state owned and right wing Polish media caused a rapid polarisation of the Polish society and gave the religious (catholic) and conservative people a license to publicly express their hatred towards the LGBTQ+ folks. There are more and more of violent incidents and the state and church propaganda are making the situation worse. Today it was the first time when our peaceful demonstration in London was confronted by a small group of Polish nationalists who were shouting abuses towards us. The tensions and emotions run high at some point as for many of us it definitely was a trigger. Nevertheless the demo remained peaceful and retained a positive vibe. One of the aggressors, apparently representing a formal Polish right wing political party, has been eventually detained by the police and charged with hate crime.
Standing in solidarity with the arrested LGBTQ+ activists in Poland, a demo outside the Polish Embassy in London. Solidarne z Margot. Nigdy nie będziesz szła sama!
Stop bzdurom (stop the bullshit) is an anarcho-queer collective actively fighting against queer phobia in Poland. Yesterday one of the activists, Margot, has been arrested in Warsaw. 48 protesters who tried to stop the arrest have been dragged away and detained by the police. The intimidation and dehumanisation of the LGBTQ+ people in Poland continues and we are not having it! There were demonstrations organised in solidarity with the activists across Poland as well as in front of the Polish Embassy in London. Here is my photo report. Nie ma wolnosci bez solidarnosci! There is no freedom without solidarity! The London demo was organised by Razem Londyn.
Solidarity with Polish LGBTQ+ rainbow flash mob
Today I joined the protest outside the Polish Embassy and documented the rainbow flash mob. Just two days before the presidential elections in Poland it felt very urgent and much needed to be vocal and show solidarity with our LGBTQ+ siblings living there.
‘In the light of disturbing news about the situation of Polish LGBT+ community we want to send some love and solidarity their way.
Current homophobic president Andrzej Duda spreads hate towards the LGBT+ community by saying publicly on national television "LGBT is an ideology, they're not people". This dehumanising rhetoric allows for the increase of homophobia in Poland (according to ILGA Poland is the most homophobic EU country)
To get a grasp of what's the situation of Polish LGBT+ community watch this documentary by BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-53342667/poland-election-the-fight-for-lgbt-rights
We say strong NO to any form of homophobia, transphobia and hatred towards our Polish sisters and brothers!
Let’s meet outside the Polish Embassy at lunchtime on Friday 10th of July for a socially distant flash mob and draw a massive rainbow of hope outside the Polish Embassy to show our love, hope and support!’
Stand Up to Lgbtq+ Hate Crime, SLAV 4 U, FARSA Feminists Artywists Society in Action and Polish Rainbow in UK
Black Trans Lives Matter
A set of images documenting some scenes and beautiful moments towards the end of the Black Trans Lives Matter protest. There was no usual commercial Pride this year on this weekend due to the pandemic but this event felt like a relevant and much needed Pride upgrade. People were asked to bring flowers…
'Wojnarowicz - Tape Journals' - Work in Progress Performance at FFormatt Arts
I returned to Brussels to document the performance of the new work in progress devised by a composer Szymon Brzóska, a pianist Barbara Drazkov, a violinist Victor Guaita and a dancer Jacob Storer. The piece is based on the diaries of David Wojnarowicz, a queer, American artist and the AIDS pandemic times activist. The project is part of Fformatt the Arts programme produced by FFormatt, a night club, which has been currently expanding as a platform for visual and performing arts. WE ARE ALL FFAGOTTs!
'Wojnarowicz - Tape Journals' - In rehearsals
I travelled to Brussels to document the rehearsals of the new work in progress devised by a composer Szymon Brzóska, a pianist Barbara Drazkov, a violinist Victor Guaita and a dancer Jacob Storer. The piece is based on the diaries of David Wojnarowicz, a queer, American artist and the AIDS pandemic times activist. The project is part of Fformatt the Arts programme produced by FFormatt, a night club, which has been currently expanding as a platform for visual and performing arts.
LGBTQ+ UK & Poland United - Demonstration outside the Polish Embassy
My photos from the Saturday’s demo outside the Polish Embassy in London. This event gathered supporters of the LGBTQ+ community in Poland, which is currently under attack from the right wing Polish government and the Catholic Church. We were joined by the anti fascist demonstration and marched down to the BBC to face a demo organised by Tommy Robinsons’ supporters.
