Celebrating LGBTQIA Latinx Artists
We were thrilled at the turnout of this month’s Marca X Gallery opening featuring LGBTQIA Latinx artists from the Boston area. The Boston LGBTQIA Artists Alliance’s (BLAA) 14th exhibition was a collaboration with the Harvard Ed Portal Crossings Gallery (HEP), and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS). An array of different mediums were on display—including photography, painting, sculpture, spoken word, and video. The artists come from a variety of different backgrounds; some are still students while others, such as Auddie, are professional designers working full-time at the Museum of Fine Arts. We spoke to many of the artists at the event about their work and their identity.
“Titties is about exaggerating body form,” says Rixie Fz of her eye-catching piece at the front of La Galería. “I hung it as a chandelier so that people will adore it as a luxury. I showcased the different roles of titties in society. One lactates, illustrating their function in motherhood. Another has a piercing, which illustrates their sex appeal. Just like, a picture you’d send to your guy. The tassel represents their role as entertainment.”
She has been taking art seriously for the past 3 years, but really she just likes to have fun with it. Her painting, “Que Pedo,” is a street art version of her childhood self. She wanted to represent a young, thick, Latina girl with body hair who is feminine but active.
Eddie Maisonet, a transgender afro-latino spoken word artist, performed a piece titled “The Way I F*ck Could Only Happen in 2017.” He acknowledged how important intersectionality and accessibility are to events such as Marca X. The event was free to the public so that all those who wished to engage could.
His powerful words enlightened the trans Afro-Latinx experience. He began his performance with the words “Trans-ness, blackness, ability, and class have given me a time-travelers eye. I have lived through different names, given and taken,” and later explains how he “[loses] all the terror and desire of gender-sharp edges and little black girl as I am grown black boy as I am read black woman."
Izzy Berdan, a photographer, is just another of the talented artists with a lot to say. His memorable piece featuring an American flag burqa is aptly named “Amurqa.” With these photos, he drew parallels between the seemingly oppressive nature of the burqa and the oppressive reality of LGBTQIA life in America. While the burqa allows Muslim women to reveal only what they choose to reveal, LGBTQIA individuals are forced to hide aspects of their identity in order to assimilate into American life.
Did you miss the event? Don’t miss the chance to hear the artists speak at Decolonizing the Body: Artist Talk on Thursday, February 8th at 6:30PM....