Diversity on display: building a queer art trail

Aberdeen Art Gallery has invited new perspectives on their collections by working with a local LGBTQ+ charity to develop an audio tour.

For our series on LGBTQ+ inclusive interpretation, Audience Engagement Officer Ilona explains how the tour has led to increased visibility for LGBTQ+ people and fostered a more inclusive approach across the gallery’s work.

An ariel photo of nine adults holding a Pride Progress flag between them.

An adult with light skin and wavy, long, deep red hair.

Ilona Butter

Audience Engagement Officer, Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums | She/Her

At Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums (AAGM), we’re always looking for ways to make our spaces more welcoming and reflective of the communities we serve. Over the past year, we’ve been working closely with Four Pillars—Aberdeen’s local LGBT+ support charity and drop-in centre—to co-create Rainbow Illuminations, a queer art trail that starts a conversation about reinterpreting our permanent displays through the lens of LGBTQIA+ lived experience.

The idea started with a simple but important question: how can we ensure LGBTQIA+ stories are visible in our venues all year round—not just during Pride? We knew we had artworks in our collection that could speak to queer experiences, but we also knew we couldn’t tell those stories alone.

So, we reached out to Four Pillars—who we’d previously collaborated with on the Prejudice and Solidarity Archived Throughout History (PATH) project—and invited them to help us develop a trail for the Art Gallery. Together, we selected artworks that explore themes like affection, companionship, and liberation—emotions that connect us all, but which carry particular resonance in queer lives. Myself, Jessica Barrie (Curator, AAGM), and Jakub Ivanecky (LGBT+ Inclusion Advocate, Four Pillars) met regularly to shape the interpretation of these works.

A crowd of people wearing bright colours and waving flags marches past a large stone building which features a sign reading 'Art Gallery'.

The Grampian Pride March outside Aberdeen Art Gallery. Credit: Ilona Butter

We launched the trail on June 1st 2025 via the free digital guide Bloomberg Connects, so people can explore it anytime, from anywhere. The audio is currently voiced by Four Pillars volunteers and AAGM staff, and we plan to update both the recordings and the featured artworks periodically to keep the trail fresh and relevant.

Rainbow Illuminations is available year-round. A printed version is on the way, and we’re already in conversation with Four Pillars about what’s next.

The response has been really encouraging. It’s strengthened our relationship with Four Pillars and helped raise awareness of their support services. Visitors have told us they’re enjoying seeing familiar artworks in a new light. And for our team, it’s sparked valuable conversations about how we approach representation and inclusion more broadly.

Rainbow Illuminations isn’t a one-off—it’s part of an ongoing conversation. But it’s shown us how powerful it can be for us to open up our practice and share the storytelling space.

If you’re thinking about doing something similar in your museum, here are a few things that worked well for us:

Start with a conversation. We didn’t begin with a fixed plan. We asked, “What would meaningful representation look like to you?” and built the trail from there.
Make space for shared authorship. This wasn’t about us writing labels and asking for feedback—it was about creating something together from the start.
Use emotion as a way in. Focusing on feelings helped us connect artworks to real experiences and made the trail accessible to a wide range of visitors.