Lucas Morneau

Lucas Morneau is a queer interdisciplinary artist and curator of English-Newfoundlander and French-Quebeçois European settler descent from Ktaqamkuk (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada). They...

On August 28, 1982, in San Francisco, American icon Tina Turner performed at the opening ceremony of the first ever international Gay Games. To date, ten quadrennial games have been held around the world, with the 2022 games planned for Hong Kong. The Gay Games’ original mission was to promote diverse sexual expression and inclusivity, and to celebrate athletes who are members of the LGBTQ2+ community. The growth of the event over the years undoubtedly signals a widening acceptance of the LGBTQ2+ community globally. However, the Gay Games still has a long way to go compared to more popular international sports events. The 2018 Gay Games in Paris saw 91 participating nations, whereas the Summer Olympics in 2016 hosted 207 countries. These numbers show a stark contrast in the levels of acceptance between LGBTQ2+ and straight athletes. From a socio-political perspective, the Gay Games reflects a complex, delicate, and fluid boundary separating athleticism and sexual expression. This entanglement of expression and intimacy intrigues many queer artists, including Hazel Meyer, Ben McNutt, and Derrick Woods-Morrow. Employing multidisciplinary approaches, Meyer, McNutt, and Woods-Morrow present nuanced observations and queer perspectives to reveal sport’s internal conflicts and show how athleticism has been gendered, sexualized, and regulated in the dominant heteronormative society.

Image: Lucas Morneau. “Corner Brook Queens” (2020). Crocheted jersey (wool yarn) with rug hooked logo (wool yarn, pantyhose, cotton, burlap). Image courtesy of the artist.   In the seventh installment of In Practice, Mireille Eagan (Curator of Contemporary Art) spoke with Corner Brook artist Lucas Morneau about how their art practice has been affected by the pandemic. Many

Meet the artists behind the Critical Mass 2021 pilot residency program: Susan Campbell, Alexandra Hong and Farihah Aliyah Shah (Mast Year Collective), Brian Hoad, and Lucas Morneau! Each artist explored the curatorial theme of environment through the lens of their art practices. This video gives an overview of their projects and their experience doing a community engagement residency in Port Hope with Critical Mass.