Image: Curtis Holder, ‘Terry Higgins (‘Terry Higgins – Three Ages of Terry’)’, coloured pencil on paper
CONGRATULATIONS TO Our Critical Writing Prize 2024 winner Steve Slack who has some great news…
“Join museum writer Steve Slack as he presents his research on LGBTQ+ portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection, exploring what it means to paint, sit for, exhibit and view a portrait that could be described as ‘queer’.
In this lecture he suggests that queerness can sit on the surface of a portrait for all to see, and might be described in a gallery label, but that there are also queer undertones that we can sense from the experience of being in front of a portrait. Steve will show work featuring well-known LGBTQ+ sitters and artists as well as taking us into some shadier nooks and crannies of the collection.”
– @nationalportraitgallery
BOOK NOW
-You can also view Steve’s writing prize winning entry HERE as well as look at how to submit your entry to this years writing prize open call HERE before the deadline (15th December 2025, 5pm).








