Fall of the Wall meets Stonewall

Fall of the Wall meets Stonewall –  new exhibition at 12 Star Gallery, London

24 May 2010, London

Photographs taken at Pride parades across Central and Eastern Europe will be exhibited 9-18 June 2010 at the 12 Star Gallery, in the European Commission offices in Westminster.  The photographs, taken over the last three years, were collected by Clare Dimyon.  A British lesbian, she undertook the first Pride Solidarity tour in 2009 to celebrate 40 years since Stonewall and 25 years as an out lesbian.  The photographs show the links between the struggle for equality of LGB&T people in Central and Eastern Europe with the struggle these same countries had in overthrowing Soviet occupation.  This 40th birthday year of PRIDE is marked by 10th parade in Poland and the first ever parades in Lithuania and Slovakia meaning that PRIDE has come to every country in the EU!

“Fall of the Wall meets Stonewall” is the first exhibition celebrating the nascent Pride movement in Central and Eastern Europe, and for many of the photographs, their first public showing.  Taken in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the Ukraine, they show the differences and commonalities in celebration of Pride across the region.  Clare Dimyon, currently in Eastern Europe, is adding to the collection with images from the first Lithuanian Pride, and the festivities in Bratislava.  In spite of protests, LGB&T people have been celebrating the official support of their human rights.

LGB&T Pride in C&E Europe is less established than in the West.  Clare says: "This exhibition is part celebration, part tribute to LGBT people across Central and Eastern Europe who face unique challenges of “coming out” in countries still emerging and recovering from totalitarian occupation. The coincidence of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with the 40th anniversary of Stonewall reminds us that this message of liberation has a particular resonance for the LGBT people."  It is hoped  this exhibition will travel to PRIDE celebrations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland for Warsaw EuroPride this July (2010).

The UK with its 38 year history of Pride marches is well placed to offer moral and material support.  The presence of the exhibition at EuroPride will be a visual display of the power and privilege of the right of assembly.  It will also help celebrate the landmark victory in the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that Gay Pride parades are protected by Article 11 of the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights).  The challenge was brought to the court by the Bączkowski Five, after the then mayor of Warsaw, the late Lech Kaczynski banned the Pride parades in 2004 and 2005.

More information can be found at the 12 Star Gallery website: http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/information/exhibitions/index_en.htm or at

12 Star Gallery is open daily Monday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm at 8 Storey’s Gate, London, SW1P 3AT.