Intimate Spaces

Crip queer artists represent! Midsumma Festival, it's time to embrace the last avant-garde!

The North Preston Lifesaving Club (NPLC) presents 'Intimate Spaces', a collective of individuals who venture into spaces they dare to see differently. Ideas burning deep come out for show, showcased fiercely on the walls and plinths of the gallery, championing a radical social model of disability by otherwise marginalised creatives.

This group show draws from some of the country’s best artists. Working in a large spectrum of mediums, the artists are drawn together by what they personally feel is an intimate space. Is it within them, around them or at a distance? Do they possess one, or do they lament its loss? What will this exhibition show the viewer that would not be considered an intimate space as an able bodied person? And how would this theme vary if we were asking artists without a disability? NPLC is a new radical home to artists on the margins who find that fitting in isn’t necessary. The venue, art studios, gallery and community space have been founded to remove barriers and centre the needs of marginalised creatives who encounter limits to cultural participation. The NPLC champions the social model of disability.

The North Preston lifesaving Club was founded in 2022 by three local, queer crip artists. They are committed to recognising First Nations people as the rightful custodians of the land upon which we live and work and aim to prioritise and celebrate difference in all its myriad forms.

Proudly disability-led, the NPLC is a safe space for artists to work, connect and hold public events. Our venue is wheelchair accessible and aims to meet the needs of all who enter. The NPLC is the first of its kind in Victoria and, only the 2nd disability-led creative space in so-called Australia.