A special blog by BSWN Intern, Japheth Monzon
June marks the commencement of Pride Month – a celebration of Queerness in all its forms. The theme of Pride 2022 is Politics in Art and, indeed, art provokes the liberation of one’s soul, and encourages people to go further. Liberation, more than ever, is of utmost importance after the exposure of a multitude of forms of social domination following the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, Queer and Minoritised peoples are captive populations: captive to racism, captive to queerphobia, and captive to infighting. Pride demonstrates the power of unity amongst marginalised peoples. Often the greatest obstacle to unity is overcoming one’s inability to peer into the lives of the Other. The mere existence of Queer artists, such as the late Mark Aguhar, is “an act of confronting white hegemony.” The difficulty in seeing past this veil of White hegemony is not exclusive to non-Queer perspectives. Even within the LGBTQIA+ community, Race plays an integral role in the experiences of Queer individuals. Art, as a form of expression, provides a blank canvas for the individual to “invite the viewer to consider their way of seeing things.” Certainly, Art and its manifold functions work to enrich the bleak existence of many Queer and Minoritised individuals. Mark Aguhar, in discussing the purpose of their art, proclaimed:
© Image sourced from Vice (originally from Mark Aguhar’s Tumblr)
Queer existence is Political, and Art is Political. Queerness and Art are intertwined and inseparable. Art can be utilised to disarm the fixed categories of identity that are used to demarcate the boundaries of Race, Gender, and Sexuality; Art can be, and has been, utilised to make visible the nominally invisible – the Queer and Minoritised. Stonewall (2018), finds that 51 % of Minoritised LGBTQIA+ individuals have experienced racism from fellow members of the LGBTQIA+ individuals – with a rise to 61 % considering specifically Black LGBTQIA+ individuals. Even more insidiously, within the year of 2020, forty-four non-binary or transgender individuals were violently murdered, most of which were Black and Latine transgender women. This statistic, as shocking as it is, are merely the deaths that had been properly reported to police and authorities – an institution which themselves are biased against Queer and Minoritised peoples.
Indeed, pieces of art such as Riot I (Sable Elyse Smith) and bust: indestructible columns (rafa esparza) are examples of Politics in Art that provide counter-narratives to the hegemonic (and heavily White) narratives imposed upon Queer and Minoritised bodies. Esparza, whose performance art is creative commentary on targeted surveillance and police violence upon Black and Brown bodies and Lighting Up by Guanyu Xu exemplify the impact of intersectionality and the unfree-ness experienced by Minoritized Queer individuals both in White spaces and Cis-Heteronormative spaces.
But Queer Art is not limited to explicit social critiques of the status quo. Certainly, the performance art of voguing is an expression what Queer people could be if not for the crushing pressure of social domination. ‘Walking a Category’ exemplifies the person that could be if not for barriers to equality – also called realness. Realness presents the Queer Minoritised person the rare chance to ‘blend’ into the normalcy readily available to White, cisgender, and heterosexual people – without compromising the uniqueness of one’s identity.
From the Harlem Renaissance, to Crystal LaBeija’s impetus of ‘Ballroom Culture’, to the celebration of modern vogue fem in HBO Max’s ‘Legendary’, Pride 2022 is the year where the collective consciousness centres upon the reflection of the Queer and Minoritised roots of modern culture. Particularly in light of the white-washing and commercialisation of Queer and Minoritised Cultures – which some label misappropriation – remembering and celebrating the Queer and Minoritised communities and their often-unrecognised contributions to mainstream society is of no greater importance than now. Queer art, if properly recognised and credited to its Queer roots, not only provides a means of “looking back”, but also as a way to “imagine the future” where Queer and Minoritised people are free of the constrains of race-based discrimination compounded by discrimination based on their queer identity.
Devan Shimoyama – a visual Queer artist who focuses upon depictions of Blackness, Queerness and the intersections of racial identity, class, and gender identity in every-day life – views Art as a medium for healing and self-love. Indeed, the resurgence of Drag artistry (particularly with the cultural phenomenon that is Drag Race) emphasises the Art of Self-Love. Pride involves more than the celebration of ‘Resilience Culture’; Pride ultimately involves the exposure of one’s vulnerabilities – one’s identity and self-expression – to others in hopes that they understand and accept.
Interested in Japheth Monzon’s other pieces?
More information on the importance of celebrating Pride by Japheth Monzon can be found here.