A Celebration of LGBTQIA+ Identity, Nature, Art and Faith
This July, a vibrant partnership blooms across Peckham and beyond. Copleston Church and Community Centre, Saatchi Gallery Learning, Bold Tendencies, and Simon Fisher-Turner unite for “Queer Naturally” – All Different, All Equal, All Welcome – a powerful programme of events celebrating LGBTQIA+ lives through the lens of nature, faith, and creative expression.
From the boldness of flower power to the contemplative hues of meditation and prayer, Queer Naturally draws inspiration from artists, activists and theologians who have challenged, reshaped, and reclaimed space for queer identity in both the art world and the Anglican Church.
Programme Highlights Include:
Friday 11th July: TOUR 4pm-5.30pm
A free, bespoke tour of the Flowers exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea, highlighting queer narratives, expression, and resistance through botanical imagery.
Sunday 13th July: Meditate/Pray 11am-12pm
A guided meditation/prayer service with Rev. Edward Collier at Copleston Church, reflecting on LGBTQ+ pioneers in the Anglican tradition – people who have transformed the Church by living openly and faithfully. Names such as James Alison, Jayne Ozanne, and Jarel Robinson-Brown will be honoured.
Sunday 13th July
Flowers 12.30pm-2.30pm
An interactive workshop led by Saatchi Gallery Learning taking place at Copleston Church and Centre, exploring works from the gallery’s hit Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture exhibition.
Participants will engage with flower-themed works by queer icons including Andy Warhol, Pedro Almodóvar and Yayoi Kusama, and create their own flower-inspired art using Lino printing techniques.
Derek Jarman Garden Guided Walk at Bold Tendencies: 3pm-5pm
A guided walk through the Derek Jarman Garden (2013) at Bold Tendencies in Peckham – a celebration of queer love, ecology, and radical beauty – imagined by his long-time companion Keith Collins (1966–2018) and designed by Dan Bristow (Propagating Dan)
Blue 5.30pm-7pm
A moving film screening at Copleston Church and Centre, with sound accompaniment from composer Simon Fisher-Turner of Derek Jarman’s seminal final film Blue—a poetic, searing meditation on love, mortality, and AIDS, composed entirely in sound and a single screen of saturated blue.
Queer Naturally is rooted in a radical openness: all different, all equal, all welcome. Come as you are and take part in this creative and healing journey through flowers, faith, art, memory and joy.
Copleston Church and Community Centre, Copleston Road, SE15 4AN
https://www.instagram.com/coplestonpeckham/
