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HOTMESS x Make a Scene
Doors open 5pm
Early session 6:30pm - 7:15pm
Late session 8pm - 8:45pm (contains nudity, strictly 18+)
Doors close 9pm
Recommended for ages 18+. The late session is strictly for 18+ and contains nudity.
About the event
A playful, inclusive art activation celebrating fashion and self-expression through immersive creative drawing. Step into a world where fashion breaks the rules and self-expression takes centre stage!
Unleash your inner artist and let your creativity run riot at HOTMESS x Make A Scene. Inspired by Queensland Museum’s fabulous Make A Scene: Fashioning Queer Identity and Club Culture in the 90s exhibition, this outrageous, hands-on art experience is an unmissable invitation to strut your stuff on paper. Created by multidisciplinary artists Sophie May and Gabrielle Miller, HOTMESS is part immersive theatre, part life drawing, and part artistic liberation.
With each captivating tableau crafted by HOTMESS, expect a mashup of costumes, music, and live artistic energy that transcends boundaries. Expect a banquet of food for thought, a bit of heat in your seat, and a smile on your dial.
At its heart, this event is a celebration of community, individuality, and radical self-expression. Whether you’re bold, brash or a little bit bashful, this vibrant and welcoming space is for you.
Grab your favourite drawing buddy—or make one when you're there—and get ready to sketch and sip your way through a riotous night of art, music, and sensational style.
Who's coming
Designed to spark curiosity, laughter and inspiration, this experience is perfect for both seasoned artists and first-time sketchers alike.
What's included
- All materials are provided, so all you need to do is dive into this creative chaos and enjoy!
- Choose from the early or late session and join the audience ready to draw the scene. More details below.
- Ticket holders will also have exclusive access to the Make A Scene: Fashioning Queer Identity and Club Culture in the 90s exhibition on Level 2 from 5pm to 9pm.
- Enjoy a free drink on arrival and visit the pop-up bar throughout the night.
About the sessions
Sessions will be held in Queensland Museum Theatre. When you book, choose your scene:
- Early session | 6:30pm - 7:15pm: A session of light-hearted absurdity, suggestive fun and colour.
- Late session | 8pm - 8:45pm: An edgier, thought-provoking session that goes deeper and darker. Contains nudity, strictly 18+.
- Bundle both sessions: For a discounted price you can make a night of it and attend the early and late session! Late session contains nudity, strictly 18+.
Accessibility
This event features:
Music/soundscapes
Very low light
Seating
Light projections
Interactive and touch objects
Reflective surfaces
Queensland Museum Kurilpa welcomes all visitors and offers accessible parking and wheelchair access to exhibits, restrooms and café. We offer a range of downloadable accessibility and sensory resources for moving around the museum, to help plan your visit.
For accessibility assistance and resources, please visit our accessibility page or contact the museum on (07) 3153 3000.
About HOTMESS
Sophie May is a Gamilaraay artist living and creating on Bundjalung Country. She works with ceramic sculpture, mixed-media painting, and runs interactive, expressive art workshops for children and adults. She is inspired by her cultural background and uses visual art as a tool for self-expression.
Gabrielle Miller is a director and performer who brings ingenuity to stage and screen through music, dance, acting, puppetry, and mask. A chimerical storyteller with a wide-reaching practice, Gabrielle trained at the Atelier für Physisches Theater in Berlin and has toured worldwide with many of her self-devised shows.
HOTMESS’s work has evolved to explore political, cultural, and social conversations. Sophie integrates her heritage into devised vignettes that honour ancestry through a contemporary lens. As mothers, the artists also create pieces reflecting on contemporary motherhood and the contradictions of womanhood today. Their work has addressed global issues including displacement, climate change, and war, using intimacy, vulnerability, and embodiment to offer new perspectives and spark meaningful conversations rather than provide tidy answers.About Make a Scene: Fashioning Queer Identity and Club Culture in the 90s
Coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, this original exhibition by Queensland Museum brings together fashion, pop culture and LGBTQIA+ lived experience. Make a Scene: Fashioning Queer Identity and Club Culture in the 90s features extraordinary pieces from the museum’s costume and fashion collections, Make a Scene will reveal untold stories of Queensland’s LGBTQIA+ communities and illuminate key moments from this period of Brisbane’s history.
Exploring a diverse range of dress codes expressing LGBTQIA+ identity of the early 1990s, the exhibition will also highlight the works of two distinctly different, but interconnected Brisbane-based labels that represent a new queer youth culture crystallising in Queensland at the time – Mark Wilson’s Hairy Dog, and Kenn Bushby and Chrissy Feld’s Glamourpussy.
Journey back to the 90s dancefloor through fashion, objects and lived experiences generously shared by community, artists, designers and cultural institutions from Brisbane and beyond.
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Plan your visit
Plan your visit to Queensland Museum Kurilpa, centrally located at the Queensland Cultural Centre, South Bank.
How to get here & parking
Queensland Museum Kurilpa is easily accessible by foot, on public transport or by car.
Accessibility
Accessibility and sensory information to help you plan your visit to Queensland Museum Kurilpa.
What's on
View our calendar of exhibitions, events, activities and school programs.
Make a Scene
Featuring extraordinary pieces from the museum’s textile and costume collections, Make a Scene will reveal untold stories of Queensland’s LGBTQIA+ communities.
Science Night
Slip into SparkLab for an adults-only night of science.