Rave/Riot is a commemorative collection of Bec O’Neil AKA R.Goo’s artistic practice(/s) organised by Sam Huxtable and Beth Scholey.

The exhibition attempts to summarise the way Bec approached making: with a fierce intent to disrupt and mobilise whilst acknowledging the necessity for joy in the LQBTQIA+ community as we face and feel the heaviness of these times. Such an approach can be seen in their recent work Pipe Cleaners, in which they explored the notion of dancing as a channel for both anger and elation as a queer person.

Bec was a kind, ferocious and queer trans artist and activist, and his warmth and wit reached many of us. Our community has suffered an excruciating loss with their recent passing and we ask that you hold him in your heart and thoughts as you enter this space. We hope that the exhibition speaks for itself, for Bec, and that it connects you with an exquisite person through the prolific body of work he left us.

The artistic practice of Bec O’Neil AKA R.Goo (1999–2021) was and is prolific, speaking to his personal experiences as a queer trans person and documenting their evolution, both in solitude and amongst the Boorloo community. His work also lends perspective to existing as a young person dealing with the fast-changing pressures of the wider world.

Bec channelled his flamboyancy, disruptiveness, angst and above all kindness into an expansive scope of mediums including sculptural work, drag performance, video and digital media work, printmaking, drawing and painting. Their work is made with care, wit, cynicism and wonder, seamlessly balancing the heaviness of much of his subject matter with the joviality many of us knew and loved them for. Bec was always making work for tender trans hearts with their tough trans hands.