Visible Voices: LGTBQIA+ Leadership

ashe screenshot.png

Visible Voices is a creative program for young people aged 15 to 19 who identify as LGBTQIA+ (or are questioning). Through art-making, conversation and collaborative creative exercises, participants will explore identity, self-expression, visibility and community connection.

  • Fortnightly sessions on Fridays: 17 July, 31 July, 14 August and 28 August
  • 5pm-7pm, dinner provided
  • Rutherglen Library (transport from Beechworth available)

Across the program, participants will use collage to create an image reflecting aspects of identity, place, memory, imagination or self-expression. This image will then be used to create a cyanotype print — a photographic printing process that uses sunlight or UV light to produce rich blue images. Participants will learn the basics of the cyanotype process, including preparing an image, exposing it to light, and developing the final print with water.

The workshops are designed to support young people to develop confidence in their own voice, build creative skills, connect with peers, and consider what leadership can look like through lived experience, creativity and care. Rather than focusing on formal leadership models, the program recognises leadership as something that can emerge through storytelling, self-representation, mutual support and making space for others. Participants will be encouraged to explore who they are, what matters to them, and how creative practice can contribute to stronger, more visible and connected communities.

The program consists of four workshops in total, with each session running for 2 hours and delivered fortnightly. This structure gives participants time to develop ideas, experiment with materials, and build confidence through a supported creative process.


About the Artist: 

Ashe Laing - meet the artist

*Image Ashe by Jeremy Weihrauch

Ashe is a multidisciplinary artist based on unceded Dja Dja Wurrung Country (Bendigo, Australia) working across performance, photography and installation. Their practice examines how bodies are positioned and made visible within social and institutional systems, often drawing on national symbols, architectural structures and acts of physical endurance.

Ashe has presented solo exhibitions at Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), Contemporary Art Tasmania, Blindside, Kings ARI, BUS Projects and VOID_Melbourne. Their work has been exhibited at Parliament House Australia, the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), HOTA, Campbelltown Arts Centre, The Substation, Araluen Arts Centre and SYRUP Contemporary (Sydney), and internationally at Lehrter Siebzehn and tête (Berlin) and Enjoy Public Art Gallery (Wellington). 

Ashe has undertaken residencies with Picture Berlin, Laughing Waters and the La Trobe Art Institute, and has received development support from Creative Australia and Regional Arts Victoria. Their work is held in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, the Nillumbik Shire Art Collection, and private collections in Australia and abroad.

This program is funded by the Victorian Government, through their Engage 2025-2027 grant program. 

Back to top