The EU Ambassador His Excellency Gabriele Visentin and the City of Launceston invite you and your guest to the launch of QVMAG's latest exhibition, LOVING: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s.
LOVING brings long-hidden stories into the light through hundreds of rare and intimate photographs dating from the 1850s to the 1950s. Captured at a time when same-sex relationships were often criminalised or socially condemned, the images reveal moments of tenderness, connection, and quiet defiance. Together, they form a striking counter-narrative to the repression of their era.
Co-presented with the Delegation of the European Union to Australia, LOVING also invites reflection on the broader struggle for equality and freedom. Preserving and presenting these stories acknowledges the importance of remembering the past to inform a more inclusive future.
Significantly, the exhibition will run during the 30-year anniversary of the High Court decision to decriminalise homosexuality in Tasmania.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Art Gallery at Royal Park for this special opening event.
YOU'RE INVITED
OFFICIAL LAUNCH - LOVING: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s
With special guest speaker Rodney Croome
Friday 21 August 2026 - 5.30 to 8.00pm
Queen Victoria Art Gallery at Royal Park
2 Wellington Street, Launceston, Tasmania.
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LOVING Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s is a Touring Exhibition, first exhibited at the Museum of Art and History, Geneva, Switzerland and brought to Australia by the Delegation of the European Union to Australia.
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Image: Photograph, undated, size 35x27mm. Courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell collection @ Loving by 5 Continents Editions.