18/07/2025
Zach Toppin’s paintings (2) are featured in our Talisman exhibition which is now extended until August 10!
Toppin is a London-based multidisciplinary artist. His work is an investigation, celebration and honouring of q***rness and identity struggle, weaving stories about emotion, gender, desire, longing, s*x and love. A collaging of his own explorations and an archiving of those of his q***r community and ancestors, he finds through it a way to navigate the dichotomy of trans unease and euphoria. Toppin makes work about the languages of masculinity and q***r culture—the external signifiers we use to build identity fantasies. Clothing becomes not just fabric, but opportunity; a tool to transcend gender. The fetishisation of items, possessions, symbols, relics-the ways we use them in rituals of existence, in our presentations of self, building inner strength through exterior armours. It thinks about time travel, secret messages, building portraits and personal narratives through scrupulously combined items, sending messages of care, communion, struggle, heartbreak. It gives intimate insights into a private trans life.
TALISMAN
4 July - 10 August 2025
185 Park St
SE1 9BL
Talisman is a group exhibition of LGBTQIA+ artists, curated by Gemma Rolls-Bentley and E-J Scott, exploring the objects, people and symbols we turn to for protection. Since ancient times, talismanic objects have offered defence against unseen forces. In this spirit, Talisman – Cardion Arts’ annual 2025 exhibition – invites UK artists to channel creative energies as acts of safeguarding and resistance.
The show presents a space of collective sanctuary shaped by leading q***r artists and selected early / mid-career voices. Works explore q***r spirituality, the supernatural, healing, bodily sanctity, and community resilience.
Curated by Gemma Rolls-Bentley and E-J Scott, with assistant curator Katie Della-Valle.
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