Top, a Celebration of Trans Identity, Now Open in London

September 11, 2025 Vacationer Staff

Artist Claye Bowler has attended the London premiere of his work Top, which is being presented until November 23 at Queer Britain museum in Kings Cross, London.

Top uses Claye Bowler’s experience as a museum registrar to create an archive of his seven-year journey through the UK’s healthcare system to access gender-affirming top surgery. The intimate installation includes over a hundred drawings, films, photographs, letters, sculptures, and collected objects.

Disguised as a museum store, the exhibition comprises drawings, films, photographs, letters, sculptures, and collected objects. The installation explores the political priorities of museum collecting, entering the emotions and physicality of being trans into a fictionalized archive. The seven-year journey is from the artist’s first visit to a GP to his recovery after surgery revisions.

Top debuted at the Henry Moore Institute in 2022, and different elements of Top are now in the collections of Arts Council England and the Wellcome Collection. This display brings together the full installation for the first time since it was initially shown in 2022. Top is accompanied by an events program, which includes a conversation with Claye Bowler and E-J Scott (curator/creator of the Museum of Transology) on Wednesday 17 September, 6.30 pm at W Hotel London.

Claye Bowler, artist, said: “When creating Top, I initially thought it was about dysphoria, but through sharing it and engaging with visitors during its first showing, I realised it’s actually a celebration of being trans and overcoming struggle. I’m excited to share the work again with Queer Britain visitors, allowing people to experience this joy again. The work also comments on queerness in a museum context, of the purpose of museums, and of collecting objects. As the first museum dedicated to LGBTQ+ stories, Queer Britain offers the perfect context for this work to resonate and question these ideas.”

Andrew Given, Chief Executive of Queer Britain, said: “We are delighted to bring this important work to London for the first time, and for our visitors to experience a story of trans joy. A celebration of the trans community is needed right now – their voices are being silenced, and their right to exist peacefully in society is being challenged. Trans rights are human rights, and the community will always have a place at Queer Britain Museum”

Sophia Weston, Deputy Chair of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “The Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund empowers smaller museums to tell compelling stories through important loans which have relevance to their audiences, so we are delighted to support this installation at Queer Britain which allows London museum-goers to experience this work in person for the first time.”

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Visitors to Top can also see a display from the Museum of Transology, the UK’s most significant collection of objects representing trans, non-binary, and intersex people’s lives. Alongside this is the last chance to experience the We Are Queer Britain exhibition—marking the 50th anniversary of the UK’s first Pride March – before the galleries close in December for the installation of a brand-new Queer Britain exhibition opening in February 2026 to coincide with LGBTQ+ History Month.

Exhibition: Wednesday 10 September – Sunday 23 November

A Conversation with Claye Bowler and E-J Scott: Wednesday 17 September – 6.30 pm at W Hotel London.

Queer Britain is open Wednesday through Sunday, 12pm-6pm. Admission to the museum is by ‘Pay What You Can’ donation, and tickets can be booked in advance at queerbritain.org.uk.