A poignant new exhibition in Canberra is offering a rare glimpse into the intimate lives of male couples across a century when such relationships were largely hidden from public view. Titled "LOVING: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s–1950s," the collection is now on display at the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
The exhibition features images that feel both deeply personal and quietly defiant, capturing moments of unmistakable closeness between men from around the world. These photographs document relationships that existed long before legal recognition, widespread visibility, or societal safety were ever guaranteed.
The collection was assembled over decades by partners Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell. It spans a turbulent period marked by the criminalisation and silencing of same-sex love. In an interview with ABC News Australia, the pair explained their unique curatorial process. They identified the photographs not through official labels or historical records, but by learning to recognise the visual language of love itself.
Nini and Treadwell described coming to understand the subtle cues of intimacy: the way bodies naturally gravitate towards one another, the ease of occupying a shared space, and the quiet confidence that emerges between partners who feel safe together, if only for a brief moment. The resulting exhibition presents a powerful, human-centred visual history that challenges the silence of the past.
