Where are all the Lesbians? In search of a Lesbian Genealogy in a Museum Collection

This research will interrogate the under representation of lesbian historic lives in the RPMT's collections and archive.

Scholarship has argued that in 'museum work' (encompassing collections and exhibitions) there is little evidence of the contribution of lesbians to society, which mirrors the gaps and distortions of lesbian lives in LGBTQ+ histories in general (Levin, 2010).

The project stems from the my MA dissertation on the representation of lesbians in museum practices together with my direct experience as a co-curator for the Queer the Pier (QtP) exhibition currently on display at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery.

It will enhance RPMT's ongoing work to represent LGBTQ+ histories in its collections and exhibition programming, as evidenced in the Queer Looks project (2018) and the exhibition on the artist Gluck (2017).

The research will examine RPMT's collection records to explore the breadth and depth of representations of lesbian lives.

It will give the lesbian community the opportunity to actively participate in the museum, challenging heteronormative reproduction and disrupting established curatorial and educational practices to model an inclusive museum.

Stimulating a spectrum of lesbian women voices and viewpoints, it will inspire critical debate regarding how historic figures are included and recorded with RMPT's collections.

To achieve these aims, I will lead workshops to research and produce an exhibition at RPMT with lesbian women participants from the local community.

A multi-methodological approach, including museological, archival and audience research, autoethnography, and the framework of intersectionality will be utilised.

Autoethnography offers an intersection of my personal narration and critical reflection (Adam, 2017) through observational notes and photographs produced during the inception, workshop R&D, the exhibition, and legacy of the project.

By adopting intersectional theory, marginalized groups and their lived lives - side-lined by museums' institutional structures - will be made visible (Robert, 2014).

The research will advance scholarly understanding from an insider perspective of working with an institution's collection, as well as fostering research on the 'production' of exhibitions (Macdonald, 2001).

I will carry out quantitative and qualitative analysis with visitors, contributing to a wider academic understanding of visitors' interpretation of exhibition objects and texts. The research will generate new RPMT collection records that acknowledge lesbian lives.

Keyword searches such as 'lesbian,' and other historical descriptors used to signify female same-sex attraction, will be added to RPMT's MIMSY collection computer search engine.

Highlighting the research findings, the exhibition will include any relevant RPMT collection objects, and in their absence, automatons (self-operating mechanical devices historically developed by men to depict women) that represent the lives of historic lesbians through kinetic, educational performance, produced by participants.

These mechanical objects will disrupt the historical dominance of male creators' crafting and reproducing "artificial Eves" (Wosk, 2015).

The exhibition will therefore challenge not only these social constructs, but also foster a community of lesbian women who, as researchers and creators, will cultivate knowledge and objects that represent their own lives.