Queer Reclamation: Elyas Alavi & Ayman Kaake

For Midsumma Festival 2026 Gasworks is bringing together Lebanese-born artist Ayman Kaake and Hazara-Australian artist Elyas Alavi to explore ideas of queer reclamation through cultural and religious frameworks.

Alavi presents a sculptural installation titled We, of Secrets Kept Hidden. The work is inspired by cultural and religious ceremonies in the SWANA region, particularly in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The artist has reimagined the sculpture as a portal for queer Muslim experience. One of his earliest queer memories comes from childhood recollections of attending Muharram ceremonies in Afghanistan, before his family relocated to Iran due to the civil war. These ceremonies became a way for the artist to process his sexuality while growing up in Iran.

Kaake presents 99 Names – a series of photographic portraits of queer individuals. Responding to homosexuality being deemed a crime in at least 74 countries. This unapologetic celebration of queer voices challenges the use of faith-based narratives to justify discrimination, exposing the hypocrisy of manipulating religion and intertwining it with politics to exert control while masking acts of atrocity under the guise of morality.

With this work, and in the face of discrimination and persecution, these two artists have offered the most powerful tool at their disposal: Love.

• Opening: Saturday 31 January 5-7pm.
• Artist talk: Saturday 7 February 4pm.