​Melissa Jo Smith made spectacular salon to celebrate LGBT history. Six rooms of a Victorian house were transformed by artists, each one evoking the life and work of a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender figure. On entering the house, guests were invited to leave such boring subjects of conversation as diets and relationship problems along with their cloaks. Instead they will be encouraged to share their dreams with the artist, who will manifest it in make-up.

The glory days of Natalie Clifford Barney's 'Temple of Friendship' came to life in one of the bedrooms, and tales of her Sapphic adventures were shared with the guests. Jackie Kay's evocative poems about bisexual Bessie Smith, whose Pullman followed the plantations, conjured up the singer's presence in the bathroom. Alan Turing was sitting in the sitting room, enjoying developments in modern computer technology that he long ago helped to invent. An excerpt from Collective Artistes' production of 'Zhe' was be shown in the television room, and Martina Navratilova and Rita Mae Brown were battling it out at swingball in the garden, and the dining room table was laden with a Victorian banquet circa 1861, the year the house was built.
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Pictured above: The Victorian table