With Brighton’s general reputation as an LGBTQ-friendly city, it might be easy to overlook incidents of prejudice towards the queer and transgender communities. A new art installation, however, is encouraging victims of hate crime to come forward with their stories.

The Safety Map, which will be at the Trans Pride event this weekend and main Brighton Pride in two weeks, is a large quilt with a hand-drawn map of the city on it, allowing visitors to tag their own experiences onto relevant parts of Brighton. This “safe space” will enable LGBTQ people to share their stories and offer support to one another.

The project is a collaboration between LGBTQ arts producers Pink Fringe, local artist Kate Shields and Glaswegian performance artist Rosana Cade, with financial support from the Sussex Crime Commissioner. It first appeared in The Marlborough Theatre at the end of April. Producer of Pink Fringe Abby Butcher says the installation is not just intended to highlight unsavoury incidents around Brighton, but also to map queer and trans identity in the city generally.

Many of the incidents already tagged to the map went unreported to the police, and Butcher believes that greater visibility of queer and trans people would enable a better connection between the community and the authorities. However, she acknowledges that with increased visibility comes increased possible risk.

“My experiences of walking around the city when I’m by myself and holding hands with my partner are very different,” says Butcher, who is queer but says she presents as “quite femme,” leading some to assume she is straight. “When you make that decision to potentially put your safety on the line for the greater good of the queer community – that’s an interesting conflict.”

As such, Butcher says that the team behind The Safety Map are “conscious that it is quite a big ask to come forward and share.” She thinks that the outside perception of Brighton as a “gay capital” doesn’t take into account the persecution still experienced by the LGBTQ community on a regular basis. Particularly, she says, it is “less privileged people within that community that are more likely to experience hate crime” – namely, transgender people. The map will be at the park in Brunswick Square in Hove for Trans Pride on Saturday, from midday.

Butcher says there is a “complex history between the LGBT community and the police, which we’re not ignoring. From my experience in general in this city the police have a relatively good relationship with the community, and there are brilliant LGBT liaison officers doing great stuff to connect those two groups, but there is of course much work still to be done.”

As well as The Safety Map appearing at The Brighton Dome before and throughout Pride, there will be a free workshop starting from midday on Sunday, August 7, held by Emma Frankland, an artist whose work often responds to her transgender identity. It is open to anyone who identifies as LGBTQ and books ahead. “Hopefully people won’t be too partied out from Pride to attend!”

The Safety Map, Brunswick Square, Hove, Saturday, July 23, 12-6pm, free entry, http://transpridebrighton.tumblr.com/

Founders Room, The Brighton Dome, Wednesday 3 to Sunday 7 August (closed Saturday), 12 - 5pm on 3 and 4 August, 4 - 9.15pm on 5 August. Workshop on Sunday 12 - 3pm. brightondome.org, 01273 709709

Edwin Gilson