New gallery, SLQS, dedicated to female and queer artists to open in London
SLQS Gallery, aimed at spotlighting art by queer and female artists, is set to open this week in Shoreditch, London.
The founder, Sarah Le Quang Sang, a graduate of Goldsmiths College, says the gallery is opening at a time when “the need for unapologetic spaces for women and queer voices has never been more urgent”.
She wants to change the narrative around female artists, who are often underrepresented in programmes and awards due to the lack of career progressions available. “Women often start later or take a break [to have children] so their CVs don’t fit the mould,” she said.
The last Freelands Foundation report in 2021 found that no women artists were in the top ten highest-value sales across Christie’s 20th and 21st century evening sales. Meanwhile, the 2022 Burns Halperin Report said that between 2008 and 2020, only 11 per cent of US museum acquisitions were of work by female artists.
This comes at a time when there have been several attacks on women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, particularly in the United States, where queer identity labels and abortion rights have been targeted and threatened, as well as the abolition of DEI initiatives in artistic institutions.
The SLQS Gallery will open on 13 February with a female-led show called Felt, Expressed, Chosen, which explores non-romantic expressions of love, inspired by Bell Hooks’ book All About Love.
The second show is of photographs by Bex Wade, the first transgender non-binary artist whose work has been acquired by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Their first solo show, I Know Who I Am By Being With You, starting in March, explores New York’s queer clubbing of the past decade.
Le Quang Sang has had an interesting career so far. She began her education in business and then spent her early years working in real estate. Only later did she become an artist. Her gallery was initially online before she decided it was time to invest in a physical space in London.
In an interview for The Art Newspaper, she said that “a permanent space can give stability to the artists I’m showing and also help us grow personal relationships with collectors, curators and institutions—a bricks and mortar space enables us to do this more effectively”.
