SURFACE TENSION

The show will be held from 4 to 14 February 2026 at St Margaret’s Gallery, St Margaret’s Church, St Benedicts Street, Norwich NR2 4TU

Gallery Artists

Exhibition Films

About the Exhibition: Surface tension suggests both resilience and fragility: a force that holds, yet can be broken. For queer bodies and identities, how we appear becomes a manifesto — a way of living visibly in a world that often politicises our existence. We appear to create a certain unease in the mainstream, as our lives and existence are politicised and confrontational. 

Visibility itself becomes an art of defiance.

Surface Tension wants to present art that thrives on the conflict of desire, where resistance meets conformity. We play with the surface of visibility, we change our skin with tattoos and makeup and clothing, and most certainly, attitude. This play can protect, but also expose a vulnerability, certainly a tension to explore. On the surface, but with an inner depth. 

Art as argument, as adornment, as a power to be authentic.  The Queer aesthetic, turning the fragile into force.

This exhibition aims to amplify the voices of artists whose work defies simple categorisation, embracing expressions of Queerness that reflect lived experiences across intersections of race, gender identity, diversity, ability and cultural backgrounds. 

This year’s selection panel consists of Rachel Collier-Wilson and Trish Fried Rice

Under The Skin

Celebrating Queerfest
Anteros Arts Foundation 24 Feb – 1 March
Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm

Artist Label information

Under the Skin celebrates four years of Queer artistic practice shaped by the Queerfest community. Featuring artists whose work has interrupted, posed, and connected our community. The exhibition explores what it means for Queer arts to be felt—emotionally, politically, and bodily. We will be including photographs and works generated from our programme of workshops. These works remind us that queer creativity doesn’t just exist on the surface; it stays with us, keeping the LGBTQ+ community at its core to validate and affirm our identities. Always.
This exhibition has been made possible thanks to the kind sponsorship of Anteros Arts Foundation gifting us the Main Gallery for the week