CLOAK: Queer Science, Fashion and Photography opening night.

LGBTQI+ scientists and UTS fashion designers collaborate to turn discarded lab coats into new garments, with results captured in a new video work.

Two people stand in a photography set, one laughing to camera the other covering face with hands. Backdrop of parted silk material, including support structures, clearly visible.

Image: Courtesy Cherine Fahd


In a field in which recent research reveals many professionals remain closeted, we asked a dozen LGBTQI+ scientists to share their stories with UTS fashion designers. The designers then transformed discarded lab coats into new garments responding to the scientists’ queer histories.

This cross-disciplinary project spotlights diversity in science through fashion, photography and video performance. A new video work directed by award-winning artist Cherine Fahd captures the results of this sustainable co-design experiment against the backdrops of the UTS Fashion Lab and the University of Sydney’s School of Chemistry.

Join Alice Motion [2020 Eureka Prize Winner for Promoting Public Understanding of Science], DJ Annabelle Gaspar and other queer scientists and fashionistas to celebrate opening night.

Three images of people in redesigned lab coats each with the fashion designer
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Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.