A never-before-seen, full-length portrait of human rights and LGBTQ+ campaigner, Peter Tatchell, has been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) for its Collection, and is now on display as part of the gallery’s ground-floor History Makers display.
Painted by the artist Sarah Jane Moon to coincide with Tatchell’s 70th birthday on 25 January 2022, the portrait celebrates the sitter’s determination and leadership through nearly six decades of campaigning. This is the first painted portrait of Peter Tatchell – and the first by Sarah Jane Moon – to enter the Gallery’s Collection.
The portrait of Peter Tatchell is a near life-size depiction and employs bright, gestural marks that are characteristic of Sarah Jane Moon’s work. A rainbow tie points to Tatchell’s work around LGBTQ+ issues. Made in tribute and admiration for his human rights activism, the painting is one of a number of such portraits Moon has made of her LGBTQ+ heroes.
Peter Tatchell, Campaigner and Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, said: “I love the vibrant colours and expressive brush strokes of Sarah-Jane’s portrait. She’s done the painting in bold and joyful style, which perfectly reflects the spirit of my campaigning. I’m honoured to have my portrait in the NPG, alongside so many illustrious public figures, past and present. I’m not sure I deserve it but I guess that after nearly 60 years of LGBTQ+ and human rights advocacy someone there is smiling on me.”
Artist Sarah Jane Moon added: “It has been a real honour to paint Peter and convey something of the respect and admiration I have for his lifelong commitment to LGBTQ+ rights and his wider environmental and human rights work. I am very conscious that it is because of his unwavering commitment to equality that I and many other younger LGBTQ+ people enjoy greater freedoms and I am constantly inspired by his focus and selflessness.”
Australian-born Peter Tatchell is a writer and prominent campaigner for LGBTQ+ and human rights. Having moved to London in 1971, Tatchell co-organised Britain’s first Pride March, which took place in London on 1 July 1972; co-founded the AIDS activist group ACT UP London in 1989; and was later a founding member of the direct action organisation OutRage!, which formed in 1990. Tatchell is also Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, an organisation that works to promote and protect the rights and freedoms of individuals and communities globally.