Exhibition Dates: February 2024 – January 2025

Curator: Ben Graetz, (Co-Director of Sydney WorldPride 2023; Curator September 2023- January 2025)

Sydney WorldPride 2023: Gather, Dream, Amplify was an inaugural exhibition at Qtopia Sydney presenting key moments from Sydney WorldPride 2023, the first WorldPride held in the Southern Hemisphere and the largest LGBTQIA+ event staged in the region. Held from 17 February to 5 March 2023, the festival invited the global LGBTQIA+ community to Gadigal Country, Sydney.

The exhibition situates Sydney WorldPride 2023 within a wider historical context, marking the 50th anniversary of Gay Pride Week, the fifth anniversary of marriage equality in Australia, and the 45th anniversary of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978. It documents the festival’s “party with purpose” approach, combining celebration with advocacy and global human rights engagement.

Exhibition content includes material from the First Nations Gathering Place Marri Madung Butbut, Gender Euphoria performances by trans and gender-diverse artists, the WorldPride Human Rights Conference, and the historic Pride March across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Through archival material, audiovisual documentation, and interpretive displays, the exhibition records Sydney WorldPride 2023 as a landmark cultural, political, and community event with enduring local and international significance.