Signs of a Struggle - Guy James Whitworth

Signs of a struggle illustrates the creative journey, from working-class North East England to the current Queer-art scene of Sydney, through the eyes of award-winning artist Guy James Whitworth. 

Traditionally, with a debut publication, it’s customary to release an easy to classify book, however echoing his unique, non-conformist art practice, Whitworth has chosen to do things a little differently and strikes out with a book both uncompromising and rare.

Signs of a struggle isn’t just a tell-all autobiography, a series of social-commentary essays, or even a ‘how to paint’ manual, but something enchantingly in-between and including all these things. Using his brightly coloured portraits of Sydney’s LGBTQI communities to build a who’s who of activists and revolutionaries, Whitworth also uses these visual images as a metaphor in which to contemplate modern life’s challenges and triumphs.

With dramatic backdrops including a troubled childhood, 80’s London in the midst of the Aids crisis and directing activism for a global transformation in the modern world, the reader is taken on an often intimate, raucous and also poignant journey though survival, masculinity, queerdom and creativity.

Published: 17 October 2019
ISBN: 9780648460466
Imprint: Clouds of Magellan Press
Format: Paperback
Pages: 152