RAINBOW SPORT

The exhibition “Rainbow Sport” investigates the relationship between the LGBTQIA+ community and Sport.

From feeling safe attending live sporting events, through to participating in sporting events at an amateur level or in a professional capacity, through to the ethics of hosting major international sporting events in countries which have laws criminalising LGBTQIA+ community, the installation in the Foyer Gallery of Mackay ArtSpace will scrutinise, dissect, and question entrenched LGBTQIA+ stereotypes in the context of Australian sporting culture, and reclaim them as sites of strength and pride.

This exhibition — Rainbow Sport — is a deeply personal one. It’s about that strange tension of loving something that doesn’t always love you back. For me, that thing has always been sport. I grew up playing it (admittedly not very well!) and watching it — but also noticing all the ways in which queer people were either sidelined, caricatured, or outright erased from the narrative. 

 The truth is, being LGBTQIA+ in this world — and especially in the world of sport — often means existing under a kind of relentless scrutiny. It can be exhausting. Whether it’s the whole country deciding on my right to get married, Donald Trump gutting DEI programs, or JK Rowling attacking trans rights — it seems like queer lives are permanently on trial. 

 Sport often seems to be the place where these conversations collide. 

 In Australian Male Football there is only one out Male Football player, Josh Cavallo who plays for Adelaide United and in a recent interview said he receives almost daily death threats. 

 FIFA recently awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia — a country where being gay can literally cost you your life. And somehow, we’re still expected to cheer, wave flags, and pretend this is just about “the game.” 

 It’s not. It's about who gets to participate. Who gets to feel safe. Who gets to be seen. 

Rainbow Sport is my way of responding to all of that. Of queering the game, not out of protest alone, but out of pride. It's about reclaiming space — on the field, in the stands, and in the culture at large — and asking what sport could look like if it truly reflected the diversity of the world that surrounds it.

details:Location:  Artspace Mackay, Mackay
Type: Solo Exhibition
Year: 2025