Image: Net Ember, SOFT/STRONG, 2026 (detail). Lettering: Tommy Burley
Southampton’s John Hansard Gallery is set to unveil ‘SOFT/STRONG’, a major new public artwork by Net Ember, with a launch event on Monday 24 August 2026, from 6 to 8 p.m. The commission is described as coinciding with Southampton Pride 2026 and will be displayed on the gallery windows from that date. The work brings together contributions from more than 75 trans+ people across the UK and presents itself as a public celebration of transmasculinity and trans+ visibility.
According to the gallery’s invitation, ‘SOFT/STRONG’ draws on over 250 submitted images and combines photographs, pets, screenshots, meaningful objects and tattoos into what it calls an abstract ode to the shifting and uncategorisable nature of transness. The artwork highlights personal, queer and redefined notions of masculinity, shaped through trans+ experience, and aims to make both shared and individual experiences of masculinity within transness visible in public space.
The commission grew out of the Trans+ Visibility Open Call, launched on Transgender Day of Visibility 2026. That open call invited UK-based artists, designers and illustrators to create artworks exploring trans+ pride and gender diversity. It was presented by Southampton Pride in partnership with John Hansard Gallery, Trans Pride Southampton, GO! Southampton, City Eye, Breakout Youth and Beyond Reflections. The five shortlisted works were displayed in Guildhall Square during Southampton Summer Sessions in June, and Net Ember’s project was then selected by public vote for the new commission.
The resulting artwork is a vinyl piece described as over 10 metres high. The invitation says it will appear on the windows of John Hansard Gallery and City Eye from August 2026. The lettering ‘TRANSMASCULINITY’ is credited to tattoo artist Tommy Burley, adding another named contribution to the finished public work. RSVP for the launch has been requested by Friday, August 21.
The launch evening will also include a live performance drawn from ‘I Was Always Here’, a new theatre production by Theatre For Life in collaboration with Beyond Reflections. The Mayflower Studios listing calls the piece an “electrifying journey through trans+ histories,” developed as a verbatim play from personal narratives gathered through workshops, interviews and conversations with trans and gender-expansive people across Hampshire and beyond.
On the Mayflower Studios page, ‘I Was Always Here’ is scheduled for August 29-30, 2026, in Studio 2 at Mayflower Studios in Southampton. Mayflower lists the production in Studio 2 on 29 and 30 August 2026, running about 1 hour 15 minutes with no interval, at 15 pounds, with a 30-minute post-show discussion after the Sunday 2.30 p.m. performance hosted by Dr Lexi Webster of the University of Southampton. It is written by Kit Miles and directed by Michelle Smith, and is supported by The National Lottery Community Fund.
John Hansard Gallery, where the launch is to be held, is located at 142–144 Above Bar Street in Southampton.
