The Queer Appear, Here!

The Queer Appear, Here! is a powerful, live collaborative performance celebrating the voices and experiences of six participants from Cork City's LGBTQI+ community that identify as trans+, gender non-conforming, or gender creative. 

Developed through residencies at Circus Factory and University College Cork, The Queer Appear, Here! is the latest work in the wider Hear the Queer Appear project, a series of ten artistic works exploring LGBTQI+ voices through sound, participation, public art and performance. 

As part of the show’s development, participants were asked the question: What would you like the wider public to know about your experience or identity as LGBTQI+ that you feel is misunderstood? 

These responses formed the foundation of the performance, woven throughout a combination of movement, dance, circus techniques, pole work, sound, live vocalisation and integrated captions. The included Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpretation and audio description. Rather than representing the participants directly, the performers of The Queer Appear, Here! create responses to their words, stories and perspectives. The project gives space to these voices without requiring participants to be staged. By providing a platform for this work, Circus Factory continued its mission of championing creativity, representation and access within the arts, while creating safe and supportive spaces for LGBTQI+ artists and participants. 

It was an honour and a joy to work with this group of daring artists to pay tribute to what our gender non-conforming and trans community members might want to say, in all their diversity. Each statement and each voice is unique. We worked to capture and represent that unique quality.