Pride Month 2022: A look at our collection of LGBTQ+ artwork
27 May 2022
In recent years, the Arts for Health and Wellbeing team at Cardiff & Vale Health Charity have commissioned artwork both of LGBTQ+ celebrities and the characters they’ve portrayed on screen, and by LGBTQ+ artists who are keen to express their voices through art.
Cardiff & Vale Health Charity and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB) are proud to stand alongside this community and be an ally for all LGBTQ+ communities.
To celebrate Pride 2022, we want to showcase the incredible artwork the Arts for Health and Wellbeing team has commissioned over the years.
If you would like to donate to Cardiff & Vale Health Charity’s LGBTQ+ fund, please click here.
A series of artwork by Nathan Wyburn | LGBTQ History Month 2022
Fittingly, the theme around this year’s LGBTQ+ History Month was art and we had four spectacular pieces on display throughout February created by artist and Health Charity Patron Nathan Wyburn.
These portraits, along with others, were made to highlight poignant dates throughout the calendar year from Pride to World Aids Day, HIV Testing Week to Transgender Remembrance Day.
These portraits are for them, and all who support or identify as LGBTQ+.
Cardiff & Vale Health Charity and the Arts for Health and Wellbeing Programme are proud to embrace inclusion and celebrate what makes us unique in this ever-changing world.
Artwork by Jaydan Alexander for Transgender Day of Remembrance | November 2021
Cardiff & Vale Health Charity and Cardiff and Vale UHB continue to support our transgender community, through our PRIDE and inclusion exhibitions and also the commissioning of art for the Welsh Gender Service.
In November 2021, they worked with Jaydan Alexander, a transgender artist on a piece celebrating PRIDE.
Like us, Jaydan believes in giving a voice to those who are not given the chance to be seen often enough, in a world that can cost everything, highlighting that creativity as queer creators is something to be valued. We can’t wait to share this work with you when it is ready.
Wonder by GUNK Illustration | August 2021
The Arts for Health and Wellbeing team were proud to commission GUNK Illustration to produce Wonder, a double A0 sized illustrated mural, printed on board, to celebrate the diversity of staff and patients within the NHS.
Together We Move by Molly May Lewis | August 2020
Artist Molly May Lewis, who was formerly part of the Cardiff and Vale Arts for Health and Wellbeing team, created a special installation named ‘Together We Move’ to celebrate Pride Cymru 2020 and showcase the ongoing support and importance of inclusivity at Cardiff and Vale UHB.
The installation consists of 40 individual screenprints mounted onto wood and displayed in handmade frames.
Molly May said: “‘In Together We Move’ I used the eleven colours which make up the Pride Progressive Flag and by exploring with form and composition through a screen printing process, each print acts as a defined artwork in itself but comes together to make a much larger composition.
“Ultimately ‘Together We Move’ symbolises individuality but also the coming together as we continue to create a more inclusive society. With reference to the Pride Progressive Flag, my work highlights the importance of a community that has, and is, making great progress but not forgetting that together we must continue to keep moving forward.”
Portrait of Gareth Thomas by Nathan Wyburn | Pride 2020
The Arts Team commissioned a special artwork of Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas to celebrate Pride 2020
Gareth came out in December 2009 and his public confirmation of his sexuality made him the first openly gay professional rugby union player.
In September 2019, Gareth announced that he was HIV positive with undetectable status meaning that he is not infectious. The following day, he competed in the Ironman Wales event in Tenby, finishing 413th out of 2,039, having vowed to “break the stigma” around the illness.
The portrait, created using red paint and fingerprints, is now proudly displayed at Cardiff Royal Infirmary.
A portrait of Gareth, donated by a fellow service user | Pride 2020
Gareth was also a strong influence on a fellow service user, who kindly donated a portrait of Gareth in recognition of the excellent service he’d received at Cardiff Royal Infirmary’s Department of Sexual Health and the Terence Higgins Trust.
The service user had recently taken up painting as an outlet to explore his creativity and learn a new skill during a particularly challenging period in his life.