Queer Life-Drawing Exhibition By Guy James Whitworth Celebrates Community & Creativity

A new life-drawing exhibition featuring models of the Queer community by renowned Sydney artist Guy James Whitworth is set to open at Miss Wolf in Marrickville on April 19.

Titled Never Truly Naked, the show marks a departure from Whitworth’s usual gallery exhibitions. It takes place in a bar to make the art more accessible to the very community it represents. 

“I want to keep these representations of the Queer community within that community to remind them how colourful, fabulous, bold and sexy they are!” said Whitworth.

Known for his vibrant works and his role as host of the fortnightly Queer Sketch Club, Whitworth is one of Sydney’s most recognisable queer artists. His exhibitions, often featured during Mardi Gras, are widely celebrated for their colour, energy, and unapologetic celebration of queer identity.

Exhibition by Whitworth focuses on the Queer community

This latest exhibition features a series of nude sketches drawn from life, with all models identifying as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

“All of the models are members of the LGBTQIA+ communities and I’m sure your readers would recognise many faces, or maybe even other body parts,” Whitworth said.

The artist’s connection to drawing runs deep. “I have always sketched, some of my earliest memories are of sitting at the family table drawing, lost in the simplicity of pencil on paper,” he said. 

Whitworth also uses his art as a mental health tool—for both himself and others. “I struggle a lot with anxiety and over-thinking, however when I’m sketching, the low-lying panic I often experience, dissipates for a while,” he said. “At my lowest I have found that anxiety and fear can often block out creativity, but I have discovered the reverse is also true; nurturing creativity can also block out that same anxiety and fear!”

Through his community drawing groups, he shares life-drawing as a form of stress relief and connection. “Hey, if it works for me, it might work for others too,” he added.

For Whitworth, Never Truly Naked is both a creative and deeply personal tribute to queer resilience. “To me, a strength in who we are, a strength in our Queerness, is an armour for the modern world and if we carry that self-awareness with us, then whether we are naked or fully clothed, that’s when we are at our strongest.”

Never Truly Naked runs from April 19 until the end of May at Miss Wolf, 285 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville.