The Outsiders Gallery/ Queer Svit: Queer Faces of War - Stories of Ukraine

The Queer Faces of War

is a series of photos which depicts queer people of different ethnicities affected by war in Ukraine. Most of them are from Ukraine, some are from Russia and Belarus. Queer people and BAME people are two of the most vulnerable groups and when catastrophes happen, they become even more vulnerable and invisible. Queer Svit is a black female-led charity helping LGBTQ+ and global majority people affected by war.

We are “Queer Svit” (Ukrainian: “Queer World”). The founders of the initiative are a couple of Black Russian non-binary people, a Ukrainian transgender woman and a team of volunteers from all over the world. Our mission is to help as many LQBTQ+ people and BAME people as possible from Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Belarus, whose loves have been affected by the military conflict or the political and social consequences of the war.

Co- Founder’s remarks

'“I remember how we went to protest, but it seemed as if it was not enough. So, on March 4th, we decided to do something more and came up with an idea of setting up Queer Svit - we made up the name, started designing, I started reaching out to LGBTQ+ organisations. We made a decision because we have friends from all of these countries that suffered from the war and its consequences.

It is crucial for us to convey to people that transphobia, homophobia, biphobia, racism, sexism, etc. is not an opinion, but a violation of human rights, and no one should be subjected to them. If we, as an initiative, can help people to experience less discrimination, then we are making the world a little bit better.”

The Outsiders Gallery/ Latin Village: Agree to Stay, Here to Fight

For the month of October, The Outsider’s Gallery presents a collaborative exhibition by a collection of creatives from the Save Latin Village campaign.

Save Latin Village on Resistance: Here to stay. Here to fight.

We are community organisers from the Latin Village in Seven Sisters, Tottenham, also known as “El Pueblito Paisa”, an indoor market that has been a place of pride and solace for Latin Americans in London.

We are grateful to be partnering with VFD for this display as part of ‘Hispanic Heritage Month’, a contentious month that coincides with Christopher Colombus and European colonizers’ conquest and subsequent destruction of the territories today understood as Latin America. As queer folk and as part of a community that includes Black, Brown, Indigenous and migrant people, we are reframing this month to honour the resistance of our ancestors. This month is also Indigenous People’s Day and Black History Month in which we see our fight connected to and inspired by the wider diaspora. We want to show what it has taken us to get here and why we are here to stay.

Latinx people are underrepresented in the UK. Without clear census data, Latin Americans in the UK rely on limited information about our community, mainly available from the only large scale ethnographic studies “No Longer Invisible” (2011) and “Towards Visibility” (2016) produced by Queen Mary University of London. Even with clear evidence of being one of London’s fastest growing non-UK born populations, the shortcomings of official government data and the lack of research on the experiences of Latin American migrants has led to our continuous invisibility. This is particularly the case for us who are Black, Indigenous and/or queer, who face prejudice within our own communities.

The reality is much more inspiring. With migration waves beginning in the 1970s and accelerating through the 2000s, we have carved out our own spaces, to act as our ‘homes away from home’ in areas such as Elephant & Castle and Seven Sisters - which host over half of all of the UK's Latin American population. Our presence has often taken the shape of organisations ‘led for and by’ Latin Americans, which seek to provide the adequate services and spaces necessary for the subsistence of our community. One such space has been the Latin Village. Yet this has not been without its hurdles.

For Save Latin Village and the Wards Corner community of Seven Sisters, all of our years of resistance have led us to important milestones in 2021 and 2022. Since pushing out the developer from the market site in August 2021, we have been working towards implementing a model of democratic ownership through our Wards Corner Community Benefit Society (CBS) and its proposed Community Plan. The Plan - which seeks to change the face of regeneration in London by proposing a bottom-up form of urban development - entails the refurbishment of the celebrated Seven Sisters Indoor Market, alongside the historic building of Wards Corner. The aim is to create a new cultural and social hub for everyone in Tottenham and the wider community; a much needed space following the permanent closure of the Latin Village in March 2020.

When delivered, the Wards Corner Community Plan will set a new precedent in what has already been a titanic fight against gentrification. Not only have we relinquished the power of developers by stopping the demolition of our Seven Sisters Market, but we are demonstrating the potential of community-led development. And we could not do it without our campaigners, allies and a multitude of organisations and campaigns with similar goals, both part of the Latinx identity and other migrant-led efforts - especially around Hackney and Haringey.

At every stage, success has been driven by each and every Black, Brown, Indigenous and migrant person in our community coming together and fueling our efforts with radical joy and love, elements embedded in the spirit of our campaign. This window display is a celebration of what we have achieved together and what is possible. We have shown that we are here to stay, and our resistance is a testament to our collective power.

For more information on Save Latin Village, please follow @savelatinvillage on Instagram, @LatinVillageUK on Twitter, or  visit www.savelatinvillage.org.uk. To find out more about our Community Plan visit www.wardscorner.org/the-plan

Text - written by Maria and Jacobo

Photography credits -

Karla Lizethe Hunter is a British Guatemalan photographer based in East London - @karla.lizethephoto

Mariochukwu (‘Mario’) Washington-Ihieme (pronouns she/her) is a self-taught freelance photographer from London. Her interests surround documenting London culture and its intersections with West African and Afro-Caribbean culture.

Mario is also a regular contributor to Shado mag, a multimedia platform driving change at the intersection of arts, activism and academia. Her work has also been featured in The Guardian, Open House London, and a range of other publications, which you can see a list on the features page. - @maz_o

The Outsiders Gallery/ Saoirse Brecht: Photos of the Beautiful People

Photos of The Beautiful People is an exhibition which brings together images of queer people by artist Saoirse Brecht.

Photos of The Beautiful People is an exhibition which brings together photographs of queer people from the international projects by artist Saoirse Brecht. Her work displays both candid and curated images of people from different queer communities around the world and provides a window into how care and community is expressed across the globe.

To find out more about the artist, please visit her website: https://lola.gallery

The Outsiders Gallery/ Trevor: Observations from a Local Artist

The Outsider’s Gallery presents paintings and sketches by Trevor, a local artist who regularly stops by on his wanderings around Stoke Newington. His practice draws on his observations and experiences in the local community. The pieces on display, not only offer an insight into his artistic process but also a glimpse of life in East London.

In accordance with the artist’s wishes descriptions of the works are brief with no dates or materials listed. Trevor’s intention is for the display to speak for itself.