Queer Reckoning: Xanthe Dobbie, Lux Newman, Scotty So
curated by Josephine Mead
Gasworks, Albert Park
for Midsumma Festival
January 15 - February 8, 2026
Installation view: 'Queer Reckoning' exhibition at Gasworks, 2026, featuring work by Xanthe Dobbie, Lux Newman and Scotty So. Curated by Josephine Mead. Image courtesy of Gasworks.
Installation view: 'Queer Reckoning' exhibition at Gasworks, 2026, featuring work by Xanthe Dobbie, Lux Newman and Scotty So. Curated by Josephine Mead. Image courtesy of Gasworks.
Installation view: 'Queer Reckoning' exhibition at Gasworks, 2026, featuring work by Xanthe Dobbie. Curated by Josephine Mead. Image courtesy of Gasworks.
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Installation view: 'Queer Reckoning' exhibition at Gasworks, 2026, featuring work by Scotty So. Curated by Josephine Mead. Image courtesy of Gasworks.
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What is a queer reckoning?
Locally and globally, queer communities find themselves within different modes of reckoning, in the face of both past and current injustices. Reckoning often speaks to acts of avenging past mistakes, misdeeds and misunderstandings. The artists in ‘Queer Reckoning’ are working to reckon with past and current realities for their queer communities. They are working to uplift those around them, through modes of satire, joy, pride and love.
As his initial foray into drag culture, Scotty So created ‘Untitled, self portrait as a Hong Kong couple’—a self-portrait where So simultaneously reflects two sides of a couple. The work considers the power that familial photographic archives hold. So has reflected on his family archive of photographs that depict his grandmother's life with his grandfather and her wish for him to “find the right woman, settle down and get married.” He has recreated a queer version of this traditional visual device, where the role of family is considered anew. So suggests that we must love ourselves first when considering how to build a family. He admits that loving oneself as a queer person can be a profound challenge, yet is a labor he is committed to and still struggles with. For So, self-love is not a static state, but an ongoing, evolving practice of learning and unlearning.
‘STOP RIGHT NOW THANK YOU VERY MUCH/ GOTTA SLOW IT DOWN GOTTA HAVE SOME FUN’ is from a wider project orchestrated by So to investigate how masculine culture operates at construction sites and through tradie experiences. So has added lyrics by the Spice Girls to a stop sign—an every-day device connected to these fields. This turns a utilitarian object into a symbol for pop-culture. The Spice Girls association to queer culture and the playful quality of the lyrics, allow So to redefine an object, historically associated with “masculine” trades, to become a visualisation of queer joy.
Upon entering the Foyer Gallery, viewers are immediately confronted with ‘Why Did God Make Me Trans And Give Me The Perkiest T*ts.’ Having an affinity for typographic work and a background in graphic design, Lux Newman has used text to create a banner that centers trans experience. Through making this declaration, Newman unapologetically takes up space. As Newman notes, “I wanted to make something that people will remember. Often as a trans person I am made to feel minimized or tokenistic. Through the work I am saying I’m trans and I’m here and I’m not just one narrative.”
Newman also presents three photographs, created for the DYKES 4 TRANS RIGHTS 2026 calendar. With a strong creative team, including local designers and Producer Cora Hughes, Newman has created portraits to celebrate their queer community. All models are close friends, most are gender diverse, and some are trans. The photographs celebrate the uniqueness of the calendar’s subjects, acknowledging that queer experience is multifaceted. Newman encouraged each model to take up space and realize their unique power through the process. The calendar had a wider purpose—proceeds have gone to support Newman’s top surgery and Transcend Australia—an organisation that supports families of trans and gender diverse children and young people.
Xanthe Dobbie’s ‘Eidolon’ is a fanatical ode to the image - a myth built on fragmented histories. In the year 2000 Jennifer Lopez wore a green, Jungle-print dress designed by Donatella Versace, so iconic that she broke the internet and Google had to invent Google Images just to keep up. A few thousand years before, Helen of Troy’s face launched a thousand ships, kick-starting the legendary Trojan War. However, some say Helen never even went to Troy, that a carbon copy sculpted by the Gods - an eidolon - was sent in her place. Our time is drenched in images and images of images. Merging past, present, and potential futures, this desktop performance dredges the internet, conflating facts and fictions in an act of post-truth digital myth-making. In the context of ‘Queer Reckoning,’ this work encourages us to consider how images have shaped queer experience throughout history. One may question how images have been used to document, inform, objectify and free people.
Through bold works that reckon with self-identity, the history of pop culture and the history of image making, ‘Queer Reckoning’ presents moments of power to inspire queer individuality and bring multiple voices to the fore.
— Josephine Mead
Locally and globally, queer communities find themselves within different modes of reckoning, in the face of both past and current injustices. Reckoning often speaks to acts of avenging past mistakes, misdeeds and misunderstandings. The artists in ‘Queer Reckoning’ are working to reckon with past and current realities for their queer communities. They are working to uplift those around them, through modes of satire, joy, pride and love.
As his initial foray into drag culture, Scotty So created ‘Untitled, self portrait as a Hong Kong couple’—a self-portrait where So simultaneously reflects two sides of a couple. The work considers the power that familial photographic archives hold. So has reflected on his family archive of photographs that depict his grandmother's life with his grandfather and her wish for him to “find the right woman, settle down and get married.” He has recreated a queer version of this traditional visual device, where the role of family is considered anew. So suggests that we must love ourselves first when considering how to build a family. He admits that loving oneself as a queer person can be a profound challenge, yet is a labor he is committed to and still struggles with. For So, self-love is not a static state, but an ongoing, evolving practice of learning and unlearning.
‘STOP RIGHT NOW THANK YOU VERY MUCH/ GOTTA SLOW IT DOWN GOTTA HAVE SOME FUN’ is from a wider project orchestrated by So to investigate how masculine culture operates at construction sites and through tradie experiences. So has added lyrics by the Spice Girls to a stop sign—an every-day device connected to these fields. This turns a utilitarian object into a symbol for pop-culture. The Spice Girls association to queer culture and the playful quality of the lyrics, allow So to redefine an object, historically associated with “masculine” trades, to become a visualisation of queer joy.
Upon entering the Foyer Gallery, viewers are immediately confronted with ‘Why Did God Make Me Trans And Give Me The Perkiest T*ts.’ Having an affinity for typographic work and a background in graphic design, Lux Newman has used text to create a banner that centers trans experience. Through making this declaration, Newman unapologetically takes up space. As Newman notes, “I wanted to make something that people will remember. Often as a trans person I am made to feel minimized or tokenistic. Through the work I am saying I’m trans and I’m here and I’m not just one narrative.”
Newman also presents three photographs, created for the DYKES 4 TRANS RIGHTS 2026 calendar. With a strong creative team, including local designers and Producer Cora Hughes, Newman has created portraits to celebrate their queer community. All models are close friends, most are gender diverse, and some are trans. The photographs celebrate the uniqueness of the calendar’s subjects, acknowledging that queer experience is multifaceted. Newman encouraged each model to take up space and realize their unique power through the process. The calendar had a wider purpose—proceeds have gone to support Newman’s top surgery and Transcend Australia—an organisation that supports families of trans and gender diverse children and young people.
Xanthe Dobbie’s ‘Eidolon’ is a fanatical ode to the image - a myth built on fragmented histories. In the year 2000 Jennifer Lopez wore a green, Jungle-print dress designed by Donatella Versace, so iconic that she broke the internet and Google had to invent Google Images just to keep up. A few thousand years before, Helen of Troy’s face launched a thousand ships, kick-starting the legendary Trojan War. However, some say Helen never even went to Troy, that a carbon copy sculpted by the Gods - an eidolon - was sent in her place. Our time is drenched in images and images of images. Merging past, present, and potential futures, this desktop performance dredges the internet, conflating facts and fictions in an act of post-truth digital myth-making. In the context of ‘Queer Reckoning,’ this work encourages us to consider how images have shaped queer experience throughout history. One may question how images have been used to document, inform, objectify and free people.
Through bold works that reckon with self-identity, the history of pop culture and the history of image making, ‘Queer Reckoning’ presents moments of power to inspire queer individuality and bring multiple voices to the fore.
— Josephine Mead
