There’s just three weeks left to make tracks to the Museum at Liverpool in the UK to see one of the our favorhite queer exhibits  THE HOLLY JOHNSON STORY. It’s a compelling exploration of the incredible life of Holly Johnson and his meteoric rise to fame, where he became one of the first openly gay and openly HIV+ high-profile artists in history.  

The Holly Johnson Story charts Holly’s early personal life and career, from a young musician to an internationally renowned, openly gay star, living in the public eye. Dealing with the price of fame, coping with an HIV+ diagnosis and the unwanted negative press, whilst going it alone as a monumental LGBTQ+ icon.

Social and political unrest in a changing 1980s Britain led the way for a cultural revolution, set against a backdrop of synth-pop music and experimental sounds. The era was a time of innovation and rebellion, punks, and new wave bands, and at the forefront stood Holly Johnson.  

Through polarising emotions of glamour and sexual liberation, alongside fear, loss, and stigma, The Holly Johnson Story tells the stories of people who experienced the gay scene in the 1980s, and the devastating impact and legacy of HIV.

Featured in the exhibition are unique items from Holly Johnson’s career, including iconic costumes by Leigh Bowery and Vivienne Westwood, Frankie Goes to Hollywood memorabilia, personal audio accounts of people living with HIV in Liverpool, produced in collaboration with Sahir House, and paintings by Holly himself.

Holly Johnson said: “The opportunity to mount this exhibition is actually like winning the National Lottery for me. As a teenager Music and Art were my passion, reading Jean Genet, William Burroughs and listening to the music of The Beatles, Marc Bolan, David Bowie and The Velvet Underground: seeing the films of Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol along with his supercharged colour paintings. Pondering over Peter Blake’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band artwork as a child led me ultimately to Hollywood and back again. Everything I was ever drawn to, through a lens of Queerness and controversy I brought with me into the future we live in now.”

Whether you lived through this period or not this extraordinary  Exhibit is a MUST-SEE for everyone in the LGBTQ+ Commiunty,