A new pop-up exhibition at Rye library celebrates black queer creatives from the American jazz scene in the 1920s. The show, which ties in with the Rye International Jazz & Blues Festival, has been put together by Art in Romney Marsh.
100 years ago everyone was listening to the the jazz and blues music coming from America, and guess what? Some of those amazing musicians and singers were African American and queer.
Our partnership with Rye Library is a chance to celebrate queer creatives that have local links and to look for the musical connections to Rye’s queer history and heritage celebrate writers, musicians and performers like Gladys Bentley, Alain Locke, Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Jimmie Daniels, Ma Rainey, Langston Hughes.
The Mind the Gap project is funded by The Heritage Fund.
Image Credits: Picryl CC .