UnShuttered
Exploring LGBTQ+ Heritage Through Photography, Storytelling and Zine-Making
Exploring Chester
Across six photography sessions, participants explored Chester through their own experiences and perspectives. We photographed streets, buildings, green spaces and places that hold personal meaning, as well as locations connected to LGBTQ+ history.
We also worked with Cheshire Archives to explore how LGBTQ+ people have been represented in historical collections. This gave us the opportunity to think about what has been recorded, what might be missing, and whose stories are remembered.
A historical tour took us to places including the Bear and Billet, where the first CHE meetings in Chester took place, and Chester Crown Court car park, the current location of Chester Pride. Alongside these shared histories, participants brought their own memories and experiences of places across the city.
Our Stories
The project created space to share experiences, memories and reflections about LGBTQ+ life in Chester. Through reflective writing, conversations and creative workshops, participants considered where LGBTQ+ people are now, how the city has changed, and what they would like to see in the future.
The project culminated in an exhibition and collaboratively produced zine bringing together participant photography, stories, oral histories and research into Chester's LGBTQ+ heritage.
Why Un-Shuttered?
LGBTQ+ history is often found in unexpected places. Some of the spaces that have been important to Chester's LGBTQ+ community are still here, while others have disappeared or changed beyond recognition.
Un-Shuttered brings these stories together to make LGBTQ+ heritage more visible and accessible, while recognising that heritage isn't only found in archives. It also lives in people's memories, photographs, experiences and the places that matter to them.
Un-Shuttered was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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Chester LGBTQ+ Memory Map
Help us map LGBTQ+ stories, memories and places across Chester.
Do you have a memory connected to a place in Chester? Perhaps it's where you met friends, attended an event, found community, celebrated, protested, worked, fell in love, or simply felt like yourself.
We invite LGBTQ+ people and allies to contribute stories, memories, photographs and reflections to our interactive community map.
Together, we'll create a living archive of LGBTQ+ experiences, highlighting both well-known and overlooked places that have shaped our community.