For almost 3 years, Melbourne based artist Astrotwitch has been working on an art project featuring queer women and trans people.
Identifying as queer and trans, Astrotwitch began Queer The Streets Project in January 2014 in the hopes of raising the presence of queer people and queer narratives in public spaces.
The project consists of portraits of queer-identified people. A fair amount of the project is in the form of uncommissioned street art but some of the portraits are also featured in galleries and art festivals.
Astro has painted murals for many LGBT organisations around Australia including Minus18, JOY 94.9, and Y gender. A majority of the street art is accompanied by text that highlights the cultural issues many queer-identified people face.
During the three years that the project has spanned, every painting Astro has made has been of queer women and/or trans individuals.
Astro says that the “basic idea is to increase the visual representation of queer and transgender people in city streets and in the art world.”