SHIFT: Queer frames

Queer Frames is an inclusive queer photography two-part workshop where participants learn how to create contemporary portraits that reflect their identity and community. Through practical exercises and collaborative experimentation, this workshop will give you a better understanding of the history of queer portraiture, and tools you can use to tell your story through the lens. 

"Queer photographers these days are not necessarily identifying in singular terms; they are more interested in being part of a political discourse about how radically life has changed over the past three decades for queers. Some artists are still very interested in creating history in terms of identity politics, but then you also have artists whose work may participate in a queer semiotic discourse but isn’t pointedly political." 

- Catherine Opie (2014)

Details of the workshops:

• Workshop 1: 
  • Date: Sunday 16 Feb 2-4pm
  • Content includes: a brief history and key milestones in queer portraiture photography, exploring its evolution from past to present. Participants will also delve into lighting, composition, and camera settings, followed by hands-on exercises that encourage reinterpreting and personalising a favourite piece from the session.
  • Venue: Seventh Gallery
• Workshop 2:
  • Date: Saturday 1 March 2-4pm 
  • Content includes: a quick refresher on lighting, composition, and camera settings—then it's time to get behind the lens and put your skills into action. Create your portrait – capture your story in a laid-back setting with a BBQ, great company, and plenty of creative energy!
  • Venue: Seventh Gallery

Cost: FREE, registrations required - 16+ only

Venue: Seventh Gallery

Accessibility: venue is wheelchair accessible

FAQ: 

• What if I can only attend one workshop?
  • Participants must be able to attend both workshop session dates. Skills taught in the first workshop will be put into practice at the second workshop.
• Do I need to bring a camera to the workshop?
  • Yes. Participants will need to bring a camera for workshops - any camera type is welcome as long as you have an understanding of how to use it (eg. you can use your iphone, android phone, DSLR, film - or anything that can take pictures)
• What else should I bring to the workshop?
  • Along with your camera (any type including iphone/android, DSLR etc), please bring a notebook, and the ability to think outside the box.

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About your facilitator, Lauren Dunn

Melbourne/Naarm-based artist working with images, sculpture, sound and video to engage our relationship to photography through a subversion of photographic codes and conventions. Addressing the rapid flux of online images, algorithmic influences and the political context of image circulation, their recent body of work Portrait of a Cyborg manipulates found/stolen images to consider boundaries between human and machine via the imaging of culture and recognised figures such as Kim Kardashian or Elon Musk. Dunn’s work engages critical contemporary politics and power relations particularly focusing on technological mediations and modifications of the body to explore how technology and popular cultures drive desire and how they impact identity.

Lauren is represented by Sarah Scout Presents, completed a Masters in Fine Art (by Research) at the Victorian College of the Arts University of Melbourne in 2025. They have been the recipient of prizes including the Myer Family Foundation Prize, Abbotsford Convent start up studio residency award, the David Fell Photography Award and the CCP 2022 salon award. Dunn has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions locally and internationally, including at BUS projects, Melbourne; Verge Gallery, Sydney; Cal Arts, USA; PHOTO 2021 International Festival of Photography, Melbourne; Horsham Art Gallery and the CCP, Melbourne. They were a finalist in the 2019 Bowness Prize and the 2019 Darebin Art Prize, and commissioned to produce a major large scale public installation for PHOTO 2024. Dunn’s work is held in public and private collections locally and internationally, and they were recently profiled in the 2025 special issue of Art Collector Magazine ’50 Things Collectors Should Know’.

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Photo credits:  provided courtesy of the artist. 

This project is part of SHIFT: A Queer Symposia, a series of events at Seventh Gallery across January and February, to create a space for discourse, exchange, & solidarity within the LGBTIQA+ community. SHIFT is supported by the Victorian Government.

Please visit our website for the full SHIFT program.