Invisible Portraits: Lucy Ash

4 Jun-3 Oct 2026

Overview

Invisible Portraits unfolds as a series of reflections on visibility and invisibility, what it means to be seen and what is at risk of being lost, again. Through paintings, film and audio, British-Canadian artist Lucy Ash highlights and elevates the voices of the LGBTIQ+ community, past and present, celebrating diversity, bravery and forgotten figures.

At the centre of the exhibition is a series of works focusing on the death of Ian Baynham, following the homophobic assault in Trafalgar Square in 2009. This tragedy marked a turning point in the artist’s practice, prompting a more explicitly political engagement with LGBTIQ+ lives. 

‘Showing this work in Canada Gallery on Trafalgar Square is profoundly poignant for me. The attack on Ian happened just moments away from the gallery, so his presence is inescapable here. At the same time, the view towards Whitehall and the Cenotaph connects directly to the works dealing with the challenges gay men faced during the First World War.’

This exhibition follows on from a major collaboration between Ash and Southampton City Art Gallery between 2020 and 2023. During Ash’s research visits, she uncovered the hidden contribution that LGBTIQ+ artists have made to our collective artistic heritage and found a strong overlap between UK artists in Southampton’s collection and those who’d shaped her own practice. Many of these artists led difficult lives and struggled because of their sexuality, unable to openly portray subject matter of meaning for them. 

Selected works from that exhibition are shown here, including two large-scale panels from the Southampton community-led Portraits of Inspiration project.