Roses in December: New addition to Queer Religion exhibition
Fr Robert Thompson, rector of the parish which hosts the Open Table West Hamsptead community, lights a candle in a dark place.
A PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION aiming to stimulate conversation between ‘two of the greatest paradoxes that exist today’ now includes an Open Table community leader.
Queer Religion is an exhibition by Frances Marshall seeking to spotlight and celebrate prominent openly queer leaders in religion.
The latest addition is host to the longest-running Open Table community in London.
“Together, we can explore the warmth of acceptance and the freedom of authenticity”
The artist writes about the people she has photographed:
‘These subjects risk so much personally in order to live in their truth and create positive change within the monotheistic religions. The subjects captured provide a safe space within institutions that historically have promoted queerphobia.’
She describes Fr Robert Thompson, rector of the parish which hosts the Open Table West Hampstead community, as a:
‘legendary firecracker… who is a notorious LGBT+ and safeguarding activist within the Church of England.’
Fr Robert with his dog Cora
To accompany his photographs, Robert writes:
‘Being Christian and queer is like playing with fire, exhilarating and transformative but also very dangerous. Fire energetically dances bringing light and heat. Fire can also consume the old and purify to make way for the new. But fire can literally destroy too and others may well think our fire burns in the wrong place and needs to be contained or even snuffed out. James Baldwin says that “God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.” He highlights for me the beauty and warmth of love and faith, queer people’s or anyone else’s. Queer people of faith’s lives are very ordinary, domestic, just like my dog Cora. Our embodied human experiences of love, like fire, keep us alive and vibrant even in difficult times. There is always a tension between the dangerous and the domestic as any of us navigate the complexities of faith and sexuality. Together, we can though explore the warmth of acceptance and the freedom of authenticity, proving that love - like fire - can burn brightly in diverse forms, igniting a path of self-discovery and spiritual connection.’
