There is just one week remaining to see the National Gallery of Victoria exhibition, When This You See Remember Me, of the work of David McDiarmid, whose prolific artistic output - spanning histories of art, craft, fashion, music, sex, gay liberation and identity politics - is almost impossible to define. “I never saw art as being a safe thing. I know that exists but that’s not something that involves me,” said Mr McDiarmid in 1993, two years before his passing.

Most known for his involvement in the gay liberation movement of the 1970s and 1980s - resulting in him being the first person arrested at a gay rights protest in Australia - his brightly coloured prints and collages, emblazoned with activist slogans (I’m too sexy for my T-cells”, “Motorsexual homocycle slut needs service”) may speak to a specific era of gay politics, but their general promotion of acceptance and equality still resonates in a contemporary context.

When This You See Remember Me is on display at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne until Saturday 31 August 2014.