Ecce Homo by Elisabeth Ohlson in Rome (2000)

Video (4:50): The queer art exhibition Ecce Homo (1998) by lesbian photographer Elisabeth Ohlsom (1961-2024) premiered at EuroPride in Sweden in 1998, it travelled to Rome 2000 and to other European cities in the following years.

With this work, Ohlson wanted to remind people that Jesus worked with and helped the outcasts of society. The homosexual iconotraphy of the images caused a lot of debate about the exhibition at the time. The Swedish book Ecce Homo – berättelsen om en utställning by Gabriella Ahlström (1999) tell the story about the travelling exhibition and the protests in Sweden, the closure of different itterations of the show and death threats the artist recieved.

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Elisabeth Ohlson

Elisabeth Ohlson (28 May 1961 – October 2024) was a Swedish photographer and artist. Elisabeth, a lesbian, was most noted for her exhibition Ecce homo which portrayed Jesus among gay and transgender people. Her photographic work often represented LGBT people and she loved poking at at religion, (heteronormative) norms and fundamentalism. Among her other exhibitions are Amauros, South Africa Via Dolorosa, In Hate We Trust, Jerusalem and ID:TRANS.