OUR WORK WITH THE QUEER HERITAGE AND COLLECTIONS NETWORK!

Across 2025 and thanks to funding from the Queer Heritage and Collections Network, we were able to delve into archives and collections to explore the gender fluidity of one of Cumbria’s most acclaimed artists.

Percy / Roberta Kelly is well known for their haunting industrial landscapes of West Cumbria, yet little is ever mentioned of their gender identity and its fluid nature.

We are grateful to Shipping Brow Gallery in Maryport and Abbot Hall Kendal for partnering with us and giving our participants access to the works of Percy / Roberta Kelly, including their illustrated letters.

We explored these collections with young Queer artists, who responded creatively with letters and works of their own through a series of curated workshops.

Three young Queer artists were also commissioned to create new artworks in response to the life of Roberta Kelly, including oil painting, mixed media and poetry.

We were joined by our creative partner, photographer Casey Orr, who documented the project and young Queer Cumbrians from across the region who participated in the project.

We then visited our partners in Barrow in Furness to explore the Sankey Archives at Signal Film & Media! This allowed access to thousands of heritage photos of West Cumbria landscapes and towns, and opened discussions about what it means to be part of Queer Cumbria today. Casey worked with young artists in collage and paint effect workshops that celebrated the past whilst highlighting the places and spaces that are important to Queer youth today.

The new work was displayed alongside Percy / Roberta Kelly originals at Shipping Brow Gallery in Maryport, in the very heart of the community where the artist once lived.

This project was hugely impactful for our community and shone a valuable light on the problems we all face as Queer people when our heritage and histories are erased. Roberta Kelly will always be a beloved trailblazer in Cumbria and UK Queer history and this project will allow her name to be known.

Queer people have and will always be a vital part of the fabric of life in Cumbria, on the quiet shores of the Solway, across the western fells and along the cobbled streets of Barrow. Nobody will erase us. Roberta, we love you.