QUEER

ART
COLLECT ART

SPECIAL EDITION

MAY | 2022
There can be no singular "Queer art"!

For more than a century, Queer Art has used photography, drawing,
painting, sculpture, and collage to explore the varieties and depths of queer
identity, which describes the experience of gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender, and intersex people. Despite the increased openness of
certain urban societies, the artists of the time learned to develop visual
codes to signify queerness in clandestine ways, which were left open to
viewers' interpretation.

One of the most important figures of the art world is Francis Bacon, who
would never have considered himself a queer artist and resisted politicizing
his homosexuality. His work fulfills a certain unconscious idea.
As an example, his work ‘Two Figures’ is powerfully rendered male figures
and it was among the darkest of Bacon’s works, with an idea of unrevealed
sexual identity. The piece was problematic for curators and even police
were investigating the grounds of obscenity.

With this Special Edition, we are dedicating ourselves to Queer Art and
artists, who identify their practices as queer and often call upon utopian and
dystopian alternatives to the ordinary, adopt outlaw stances, embrace
feelings and forge unprecedented kinships and relationships, who are not
afraid to raise their voices, show their Art to the public, and share their
stories with us.

Collect Art/ Tbilisi, Georgia

www.collectartwork.org
info@collectartwork.org
collectartwork@gmail.com
Jazz Prisciandaro-Wood

Jacky Kelsey
C
Wolfgang Woerner O
CHEN Yu_Jung

Stanko Gagrčin
N
Jadwiga Janowska T
Roberto Rafael Navarrete
E
N
Larry Walker-Tonks

Paul Beaudoin

Sabrina Ring T
Ethan Moss

Tamar Berger

Tom Jezek

Clo Sargent

Lawrence Aaron

Gobscure

Keith Buswell

Angela Galvan
JAZZ
PRISCIANDARO-WOOD
Jazz Prisciandaro-Wood is an English-Italian artist working and living between
Manchester and Hertfordshire. They recently graduated from the Manchester
School of Art with a BA in Fine Art and Art History with Overseas Study. They have
previously completed a foundation diploma in Art and Design, specializing in
sculpture, at Camberwell College of Art.

Influenced by an interest in memory, semiotics, and autobiographical work, Jazz

Prisciandaro-Wood’s practice concerns their relationship to their heritage, exploring
ideas of inheritance and identity, linguistic and cultural distances, using letterpress,
and textiles. Craft processes such as hand embroidery and natural dyeing are
integral to their practice. These time and labor-intensive processes allow her to
explore the therapeutic potential of making and form a deeper connection with her
subject matter. Their work integrates personal memories with different forms of
remembering, including folklore and academic research, reflecting an interest in
giving the present an opportunity to learn about and remember the past.
 Who are your biggest influences?
Currently one of my biggest influences
is the work of Elena Lo Presti, after I
saw her work ‘Unfinished Bedtime
Stories (tra il Mar Tirreno e la Manica)’
at the Royal College of Art 2021
graduate degree show. I think it’s such
an interesting piece and I love the use
of craft techniques to make the hand-
built ceramics and the use of multiple
languages in her work. Another artist
that I love is Cas Holmes, a textile
artist based in the UK, whose work
was a key inspiration when I first
started naturally dyeing fabric. I’m also
very influenced by poetry, concrete
poetry in particular, as I’m interested
in exploring the visual aspects of a
text.
How do you work?
Most of the time my work is
dictated by my own interests and
the opportunity to explore
something different. I often chose
methods or materials I think will be
fun to work with and where I can
learn new techniques.
Experimentation, mistakes, and
chance all play an important role in
my practice. Having studied art
history, I also spend a lot of time
reading and drawing much of my
inspiration from historical art
practices such as 20th-century
modern art’s interest in the
relationship between art and
everyday life.
 How has your practice changed over time?

At the moment I work with textiles, dyeing, and hand sewing. Before I came to
university I used to use a lot of mixed media and sculptural work – one of my
favorite projects involved collecting found materials and using paint and plaster
bandages to create an abstract 3D relief inspired by the sea’s textures and the
movement of storms. Previously I have also worked with ceramics, exploring the
body and touch through clay vessels. Although the materials I use have changed
over time, my practice is still motivated by similar ideas around narrative,
memory, and texture. Recently I performed a spoken-word piece as a part of a
collaborative performance piece called ‘Dark Times Karaoke Club’. I really enjoyed
getting to share my writing practice in public and look forward to exploring more
performance or collaborative work in the future.

What are you doing except

being an artist?

Outside of being an artist, I am

training to become a creative
facilitator and helping to develop
creative workshops for young
people. I think creativity plays a
very important role in supporting
people’s well-being and it’s vital
that everyone can have the
opportunity to benefit from the
arts, regardless of whether they
consider themselves to be an
artist or not.
JACKY
KELSEY
Jacky Kelsey is a Chicago-based artist with a focus on soft sculpture and a
background in drawing and puppetry. Originally from Wyoming, they moved to
Illinois in 2014 to earn their BFA at SAIC. Upon graduation, they worked as a
seamstress and upholsterer. They now continue making sculptural work that
deals with themes of the body, clothing, and queer identity.

My kinetic soft sculptures are a rumination on discomfort, connection, and queer

identity. The colorful figures are weighted to give them a lifelike slump and are
patterned through a mishmash of techniques borrowed from puppet-making,
upholstery, tailoring, and tracings from my own body.
I see queerness in my sculptures because they feel strange like me. Soft materials
rarely behave. Like any garment or label, a sewist’s pattern is an imperfect mirror.
It neither fits everyone nor conforms perfectly to the wearer. So, the figures are
continually adjusted in search of their most comfortable shape. Through this
tedious process, a disobedient body is made: a tangle of limbs that claim a
presence of their own.
 What type of art do you make and why?

When I first came to Chicago I wanted to be an oil painter. I was very serious
about figure drawing and portraiture. Then after a year, all of that started to feel
claustrophobic – I’d draw a line, and it would stay exactly where I put it. Soft
sculpture fought back. It was tactile and exciting, a new type of line. I was not
formally trained in much sewing at that point, so I cut shapes straight out of the
fabric and hand-stitched them together. I saw the creature from the inside, then
put it through the birth-like mutation of turning right-side-out, then stuffed it, and
suddenly I had this heavy little velvet thing in my hands that changed every time I
looked at it. I could hold it like an animal. If I repositioned it, or even if it fell off the
couch, then it became a completely different artwork. I thought, why make one
image at a time when I could make these objects that refuse to be just one thing?
I started making soft sculptures in my drawing classes. Luckily, my drawing
professor not only put up with this exploration but encouraged it. Around that
same time, I also began taking puppetry classes, and became very interested in
the philosophy that materials have a type of mind and personality of their own – if
you’re a good puppeteer, you don’t force a puppet. The puppet sort of controls
you, in the sense that you have to pay attention to the motions and personality
that it lends itself to most naturally, and work within the confines of that. It’s like a
collaboration. Similarly, my sculptures rarely do exactly what I intend them to do,
but that’s what draws me to make them. It’s always a back-and-forth.
 What inspires you?

Vivid colors, rich textures, and funky

knick-knacks make you stop and say
“hey look at this guy.”

Does your work comment on

current social or political issues
and how?

I focus on what I know, which is

labeled as political only by certain
people. Squeeze (Shelter In Place) is
directly related to one experience of
the pandemic: the comfort and
claustrophobia of being shut down
with someone you care about. In my
mind, I know that the figures in the
box are lesbians, and I don’t know if
that will be picked up by everyone
who sees it, but I suspect that the
emotion of that time is something
understood by many. That’s enough
for me.

What does your work aim to

say?

I want others to bring their own

meaning to my sculptures. My work
is less of a statement and more of
open space for others to set down
their thoughts. Otherwise I’d just
write an essay. That’s not to say that
there aren’t any behind-the-scenes
ideas that go into my work – it’s just
that I make things from my own
internal little world, and that’s all
that I can do. Everything else is
serendipity.
 How do you work?
It usually starts with a sketch, then a
pattern, and then a lot of improvisation.
Much of what I learned was through trial
and error or fringe techniques that often
go unconsidered: upholstery, hat-
making, fabric installation signage, and
doll and puppet sculpting. I use a
mishmash of slash-and-tape patterning
and draping over a form. Many of my
patterns are draped over my own body,
or over a rough shape sculpted out of
bunched paper. Some are
frankensteined together in a more
intuitive and freeform way, almost like
sketching three-dimensionally. Soft
sculpture can be as complicated or as
simple as you want it to be – that’s what I
love about it. I like to let myself go down
the over-thinking and over-technical
rabbit holes, and then end it with a split-
second decision when I get stuck. That’s
how the best pieces come out,
sometimes, when I ruin the original plan.
What themes do you pursue?
I didn’t realize until several years
after the fact that the objects I was
making – while they always felt
related to my experience of living in
a body, feeling out of place, and
needing to reconnect to my physical
surroundings – that’s all related to
queerness. I am not a woman really,
but I can dress up like a woman, and
my sculptures are the same. I use
titles that don’t fit perfectly but fit
fine enough. I am looking for others
like me. I want comfort, I want
company. I need something to weigh
me down and remind me that I am a
human being with limbs and organs
and feet on the ground, and my
sculptures do that, while also
stumbling along with their own
awkward bodies, looking for a name
and a home.
 How do you know when a sculpture is done?

My sculptures are never done, they just rest. There is always room for growth and
repurposing. My time with puppetry has a lot to do with that mindset: one object
can be used for completely different performances, and they’re used roughly, so
they need to be repaired and reimagined. I try not to be too precious with the
things that I make. If it can’t be interacted with, what’s the point? Sometimes I de-
stuff my old sculptures and use them for other projects when the time is right. I
re-title my work when it feels necessary, too. It’s like changing a wardrobe when
the old clothes no longer fit the new you. I know that they've done for the
moment when they make my mom giggle or otherwise stir up some immediate
visceral reaction. That’s when I know that something has clicked. Sometimes it’s
fear – I remember being afraid of dolls when I was younger, and occasionally
people have that reaction to my work. I take it as a compliment because it shows
that the object has crossed the line into that uncanny ambiguously-alive territory
that I aim for.
What is the role of an artist in society?

Everyone should be an artist in one way or another. It’s necessary for individual
health and for community connection, both of which are neglected here in the
United States. The role of art as cultural and political fuel shouldn’t be minimized,
but without the play and rest and processing that “small art” provides, people
suffer. It’s as important as sleep.
WOLFGANG
WOERNER
Wolfgang is a mixed-media artist with a background in architecture.
The intellectual and cultural background of architecture inspires ideas and points
of departure. Urban life perpetually offers up the extraordinary in every day and is
the prompt for private reflections and personal experiences …, Me, myself, and I.

Wolfgang’s work embodies aspects of self-identity … exaggeration and

embellishment reveal and conceal paradoxes that are always present … strength
and vulnerability, ability and disability, exposure and introspection, sensitivity and
detachment …
Current work features the exploration of a candid subject matter and a language
and direction involving the juxtaposition of drawing, painting, collage, folding,
stitching, and embroidery. Explorations gradually (or erratically) evolve and mutate
between 2 and 3 dimensions, taking the work in new directions.
 Who are you, and what is your
background?

I am a German British artist. I grew up in

Germany and lived there until my late
teens in an environment that subscribed
to the notion that what happens behind
closed doors should stay behind closed
doors. Germany is/was a strangely open-
minded and culturally engaging country
covered in a thick blanket of
conservative ideals and concepts with
regard to masculinity and sexuality. A
temporary move to London has by now
turned into living here for the greater
part of my life. I always enjoyed the
concept of being a foreigner, the ability
to take with me that part of my heritage
that I feel is deeply and positively
ingrained within me and to be able to
weave those strands together with new
cultures I have encountered … the
possibility to create an identity that is
more fluid with boundaries relating to
I absolutely love the tactile
my own lived experiences. Emotions can
experience of working with textiles.
oscillate from confidence in a strong
The softness of the cloth, the
foundation created with such diverse
elasticity of working with latex, and
building blocks and at other times
the slow and repetitive movements
feeling utterly adrift in the in-between,
of the stitch. There is an exciting
but it is that uncertainty that stimulates a
unpredictability within the materials I
positive urge to evolve and look at the
choose. I also love paper for drawing
world afresh.
and for three-dimensional work; it is
What type of art do you make and
a very tactile material to work with
why?
like cloth and threads. Touch is an

essential aspect for me in the

I work in mixed media, textiles,
process of creating works. This
embroidery, and sculpture. The work
physical contact, the handling of
moves intuitively between 2 and 3
stuff, currently embraces discarded
dimensions as ideas drift towards one or
things including toys, restaurant
the other in the making, attempting to
napkins, and hotel bedsheets.
capture them for myself and any viewer.
 Why did you choose to be an
artist?
I wouldn’t really use the word
choose. It is simply the practice that
offered itself to me to express what
goes on in my head and
uncover/discover a narrative about
how I experience(d) the world
around me. Art is a catalyst that
allows me to dive headfirst into
uncomfortable memories and
concepts.
What inspires you?
The beautiful decay below the
polished veneer, depicts subjects in
the midst of inner turmoil, altered
realities that create a place of safety
and belonging, concepts of personal
and communal space and their
boundaries, and last but not least
society’s desire to intellectualize the
past to fit a (comfortable) ideal.
What themes do you pursue?
Currently, there are three main
threads that weave in and out of my
work. In a nutshell, these are child
neglect, the impact of AIDS on the
gay community, and the distorted
concepts of manners and
mannerisms. A reoccurring subject
is the multitude of ways in which
effects of abandonment and child
neglect manifest in historic and
contemporary life, how society and
governments address or ignore
these issues and the deep-rooted
implications in relation to my own
particular gender identity and queer
identities. Shifting perceptions and
social changes over the past few
decades regarding the impact of
AIDS on the queer community are
woven into my work: the twisted flow
between pasts and futures. Manners
… we get taught from a young age
what is considered good or bad
behavior, referenced predominately
to the environment we are raised in,
only to discover that often these
values do not correspond to reality
or experience, leaving us seriously at
odds with the world around us.
CHEN
YU_JUNG
CHEN Yu_Jang was born in Tainan, Taiwan. He holds an MFA in Institute of Music
from National Chiao Tung University, and he majored in multimedia composition.
His artworks mainly focus on contemporary composition, performance art,
experimental improvisation, and mixed media installations. Now he is enrolled
Ph.D. in Art Creation and Theory from the Tainan National University of Art.
Most of Chen’s recent artworks spring from the space, individual emotion, and the
experiences involved in such. Currently, his focus is on the interaction of visuals
and sound associated with space. His artworks often include ready-made objects,
which become part of a self-emotional narrative. In the process of developing
works, he used a lot of materials through the collection and analysis as a basis for
the concept of creation.

Coliving in This World

He invented Xiaoxu, a volunteer for HIV-infected to conduct life history interviews and co-
creation. Through the narration of life history and historical archives, reconstruct the
boundary between illusion and reality, and display and participate in the infection of the
project in the form of archives. The project is expected to conduct research and creation
in the media of in-depth interviews, sound poems, and ready-made objects. It is hoped
that through the practice and arrangement of the project of interviews with volunteers,
the stigmatization of infected people in the past will be removed.
 What type of art do you make
and why?
I tried to connect the relationship
I am a New Media artist and
contemporary composer.
Because of my interdisciplinary
experience, I would be not
confined to the use of any media.
That’s why I choose the mix of
new media to do my creation. I
tried to connect the relationship
between traumatic memory and
society. I would like to
concentrate on my research and
creation with the data
visualization and sonification. I
expect that I could construct the
contemporary art system of the
methods in my own way. And I
realize the important of
relationship between the cultural
situation and historical memory.
What inspires you?
between traumatic memory and
society. I would like to
concentrate on my research and
creation with data visualization
and sonification. I expect that I
could construct the
contemporary art system of the
methods in my way. And I would
like to realize the relationship
between the cultural situation
and historical memory. My
artworks are often inspired by my
own experiences and often
include ready-made objects,
which through the context of a
particular exhibition, become part
of a particular historical narrative.
 Does your work comment on current social or political issues and how?

Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage on May 24,
2019. I paid attention to whether it changed the degree of stigmatization of HIV-
infected persons after same-sex marriage is legalized? For this reason, I tried to
invite volunteers to create together at the beginning of the project. And I re-
examined and explored the phenomenon and reaction of social collective
consciousness in the face of disease issues. The project is expected to conduct
research and creation in the form of in-depth interviews, object files, voice
recordings, and ready-made objects. It is hoped that through the practice and
arrangement of the project of interviews with volunteers, the stigmatization of
infected people in the past will be removed.
I believe that "Fear comes from the unknown, and the 'empathy' is the basis for
conquering everything."
 What does your art mean to you?

When I do my artwork, I think it’s a process to have a

conversation with myself. I try to connect the different
experiences. Material textures urge contemporary artists to
immerse themselves in its flow, to capture the events that
take place in the moment and the past. I explore the internal
temporality of materials and form a blurry zone between
natural and man-made objects. Through carrying out the
aesthetic reconstruction of the objects with mixed media, I
try to create a connection relationship between the organic
and inorganic. Through metaphors in images, sculptures,
sound installations, and interactive videos, I turn my own
experiences of desire as well as that of the environment, on
both an emotional and aesthetic level, into physicality.
STANKO
GAGRČIN
Stanko Gagrčin is a multimedia artist from Serbia.

In 2013 he graduated Interior design in the high school for design "Bogdan Šuput"
in Novi Sad. He got his Bachelor's degree in Scene Architecture, Design, and
Technology at the Faculty of Technical Sciences of Novi Sad. Artist in residence at
the Homesession gallery in the spring of 2018 in Barcelona. Attended the
Experimental Film Course at the Berlin school filmArche in 2019. Currently works
as a scene designer, assistant, and project manager at the Foundation Novi Sad
European Capital of Culture 2022. and the Network of Cultural Stations.‍

Author of several interactive virtual audio-video installations and experimental

films. Stanko's experimental films can be seen as a hybrid fusion of different
genre conventions and stylistic approaches. It can be said that these works are at
the crossroads of video art, documentary, and fiction films. In his virtual art
installations, he is exploring the aesthetical possibilities of new media digital art.
Throughout his body of work, he is delving into the concepts of gender, ethnicity,
and sexual identity as well as socially and politically engaged themes.

"ILY" is an internet slang acronym for "I love you", alluding to the artist's ironic but
fresh approach to tenderness in the context of a violent and toxic environment -
both digital and real. In this video, collages see two shirtless men, embracing each
other. The first contrast is one of the men's fetish masks (which is normally
associated with S&M) with the tenderness of their body language, but also with
the "volim te" (I love you) in the Cyrillic alphabet - alluding to an Eastern European
context, where homosexuality is still frowned upon or even punishable.

In other videos, the context of a decaying society is represented with the

modernist-brutalist concrete architecture that this part of the world is famous for,
which for many radiates an atmosphere of alienation and coldness, which is in a
clash with their romantic pose. But it is also juxtaposed to imply there is beauty in
everything, even in a society that has not accepted the plurality of human
existence.
 Who are your biggest influences?

When it comes to experimental films, it’s Berlin-based American filmmaker Matt

Lambert. His shorts made me think: This is pure magic; I want to make stuff like
this someday! Visually seducing, showing glimpses of Berlin’s queer scene and the
complexities of existing as a young individual in the 21st century European urban
metropolitan setting. I was enamored.
Also, the era of Tumblr has hugely defined my taste in visual art, especially blogs
like Herrenscheide’s. It uncovered for me how the splendor of baroque, the decay
of a brutalist building, and exotic illustrations of ancient deities can go perfectly
well together. Perhaps the perfect embodiment of postmodern eclecticism.
Regarding influences on virtual art installations, a book I read to prepare for my
diploma work, Oliver Grau’s Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion has opened
new horizons for me. It showed a fascinating continuity of certain concepts
throughout art history, regardless of the level of technological advancement and
medium.

How do you know when an artwork is done?

Last year I hired freelancers on Upwork to comment on my semi-finished short

film in order to gain external feedback and conclude if my work is finished or it
needs a complete 100% restructuring and reorganization. It’s baffling at how you
can always spend more and more time refining and redefining and remodeling
your work. So you just have to stop at some point and let it be. The lessons you’ve
learned along the way are going to help you in the next creative process.
 Do you follow any current art trends?

In general, I live and breathe trends. I adore the feeling of freshness when
discovering something with the aureole of “new”. I know it’s bad for the
environment and the art world in general, but I’m addicted to the omniscient
capitalist machine swallowing trend after trend, entire decades and centuries of
styles becoming passé after a while. And then coming back a few seasons later in
a new incarnation.

I think what’s defined as “fine arts” and “popular culture” have always influenced
each other and been mutually referential perhaps, and in this Information Age we
live in, this process of influencing that used to take years or decades has been
sped up to the point of lines of delineation completely disappearing. Trends from
all kinds of disciplines (not just art) can influence art in infinite ways in real-time.

When it comes to “the ultimate current trend of the art world” – NFTs and
metaverse – I am highly optimistic. The concept of having an indestructible digital
proof of ownership is revolutionary, and it’s amazing that blockchain technology is
making it possible. Also, I used to think metaverse is going to become possible in
a faraway future, and now, in just a few years’ time everybody is picking up on the
concept.
 How important are titles for you?

Not sure if it’s a myth or not, but I’ve read multiple times how apparently the guy
who named the film “Cars” got $300k for that. Even if it’s not true, it does illustrate
that Hollywood, the indisputable peak of branding and marketing, naturally
recognizes the importance of titles. But regardless of if you call it marketing,
branding, uniqueness, or recognizability, a title can nevertheless really add a
crucial layer of meaning to the work, that might have not been apparent from just
visual input. That being said, I do sometimes name my collages just “001”, “002”,
and “003”. Too much pressure on naming.

What is your biggest challenge

in being an artist? How do you
address it?

First and foremost, just pure

financial existence is my biggest
challenge, both as an artist and as a
homosapiens. Trying to balance the
time it takes to do the work I do to
pay the bills and the work I do to
enrich the art history with my
modest contribution.
JADWIGA
JANOWSKA
Jadwiga Janowska was born in 1994, and lives and works in Silesia, Poland.
She graduated from the photography school in OpavaIn 2018, she won the main
prize for photojournalism in the Young Poland category at the Grand Press Photo
competition. Winner of the Jan Sawka award at the Fama festival. Second prize for
the Talent of the Year competition organized by Pix House; Her works have been
presented in Poland and abroad.
''In my photography projects, I focus on identity:
- In the city in which I live, I made a project about a former military airport and a radio
station in Gliwice, the place where the Second World War began in Silesia.
- People, I photographed my friends - the project "I can do it when I grow up" was
awarded at the grand press photo competition; myself, my friends around.
Recently, I focus on identity issues, photographing queer environments in Silesia.''
 What is your background?

I started taking photos when I was

a teenager, in secondary school.
After all, I finished my master's
degree at the Opava School of
Photography in the Czech Republic.
It was a great experience.
I always was a sensitive and very
emotional person. Photography is
the way to say something and work
through emotions.
What type of art do you make
and why?

I make photography, mostly

portraits, and contemporary
documents. In portrait
photography, I like contact with What inspires you?
other people. Also, I love the

opportunity to meet people who People around, behaviors,

probably I wouldn't have known if it gestures, facial expressions.
weren't for the picture. The people themselves.
 Why did you choose to be an
artist?
It depends on the project but all
I think it was a natural way. When you
are a sensitive person you are looking
for an opportunity to express your
emotions. I love every type of art. I like
going to exhibitions and theaters,
watching films, reading books and
listening to music. I am very often
touched. So, from an early age, I
wanted to do something that could
move others.
What does your art mean to you?
of activism.
It is my way of communicating. I have
the impression that I express my views
or observations better through a
picture than with words. my
photography often is much more
personal than they appear at first sight.
What does your work aim to say?
projects can be linked together with
the word identity.
Does your work comment on
current social or political issues
and how?
I think so. I don't have much courage
to be an activist on the street, but I
think a lot of my views can be read in
the pictures. I touch on queer topics
while living in Poland - this is my kind
What is the role of an artist in
society?
artists pay attention to things that
others often don't think about in
everyday life
ROBERTO RAFAEL
NAVARRETE
Roberto Rafael Navarrete is an interdisciplinary artist working across photography,
installation, sculpture, video, and performance. He was born in Queens, New York,
and was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Navarrete and his four siblings are first-
generation Peruvian-Americans and third-generation hardwood floormen.
Working with various species of wood his entire life and researching the knotted
language of his Inca ancestors has had a significant influence on Navarrete's work
throughout his career as this introduced his passion for knots. He graduated from
Georgia State University in 2011 where he received his bachelor's in Fine Arts with
a focus on Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking. His work has been included in
several national and international exhibitions. In 2015, Navarrete received The
Graduate Teaching Assistantship at Florida Atlantic University and The Community
Engagement Initiative Grant 2018. He lived in South Florida from 2015 to 2020
where he received his master's in Fine Arts (2018) at Florida Atlantic University
with a focus on Painting, Photography, and Mixed Media Installations. Navarrete
currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
Shamanism, Peruvian Heritage, and Sexual Identity are primarily the driving forces
in my artwork. I grew up always seeking out guidance and comfort from our
shamans, curanderos, and our Saints. As a culture, we are encouraged to refrain
from making any references to our spiritual practice to protect us from harm. We
are forced to stay quiet. As a queer, this became extremely difficult for me to
accept given that it is the main inspiration for my life and practice as a creator. I
feel an enormous responsibility to utilize my talent, voice, and experience through
my artwork as I strive to express positivity while refusing to keep any part of my
identity closeted.
My research has enabled me to create a bridge into the physical, emotional, and
spiritual scarring caused by global intolerance towards the LGBTQIA+ community
and oppression embedded by patriarchal power. As an artist, I strive to create
intimate, sacred environments that are constantly evolving and changing. These
installations stand as a representation of the body in transition and transforming
as we grow, scar, and heal from our experiences. The resulting environments
offer a visceral experience for the audience that aesthetically explores the body’s
transformation as it heals. My work is an offering; representative of the scars I
have collected and embraced. Remnants of these spaces take place within a
reflective, transitional process at the intersection of the body and temporality that
I occupy as a Queer, Latinx artist of color.
 Why did you choose to be an artist?

I was painfully shy when I was younger and I always had trouble finding comfort
and/or confiding in anyone outside of my family. I did not start to speak regularly
until I was about four years old because of this. Finding my voice was always
extremely difficult, and this lasted throughout my life. I’ve been called every
derogatory term there is to insult my queer essence in both English and Spanish.
I’ve been spit on and placed in a position where I have had to physically defend
myself time and time again. Regardless of all this I still consider myself one of the
lucky ones. I overcame this and I’m still alive to share my story. This makes my
experiences and pain valid and worth the struggle. It has made me resilient and
helped me focus my passion on being a voice for the community. This is what
fuels my work as a Queer Latinx artist of color.

What does your art represent?

I speak/create through knots, tension, pain, experience, and my spirituality. I feel

that as artists we have a responsibility to reflect on our experiences and share
them with the world. We are a residue of time. It is our journey to find ourselves
within the temporality that is given to us so that we can share our vision most
honestly and sincerely possible. As artists, we can heal ourselves and in turn, help
others heal as well. This makes the body that we occupy within time and space as
Queers valid.Finding the language to express this was the most difficult path that I
have had to take as an artist. This path became clearer the further I researched
my Peruvian heritage and sexual identity. I accept that I represent a fraction of
marginalized bodies. I placed my focus heavily on Feminist, Queer, and
Transgender theories. Without this, I would not be able to get to the core of these
scars and knots that I have held onto my entire life. I would not have the language
to express my artistic practice. My objective aims to deconstruct individually
knotted cords that make up the fabric of my identity and reconstruct them into a
space that is all-inclusive and embraces healing.
 What themes do you pursue?

My Saints…

“There is a cost in every identification, the loss of some other set of identifications,
the forcible approximation of a norm one never chooses, a norm that chooses us,
but which we occupy, reverse, resignify to the extent that the norm fails to
determine us completely.” Judith Butler. As an artist, I chose to work through
varied lenses of research to create and define the space that I/We occupy, reverse
and resignify. My process is to work inward/out - internally meditating on past and
present experiences and then channeling those emotions towards release. As a
child, we were told to pray to our saints for comfort and guidance. Whenever we
struggled with life just know that these saints are always there to protect us. What
does this mean for a person in the LGBTQIA+ community? Who will save us?

My Saints…

“The shamanistic state. When I create stories in my head, that is, allow my voices
and scenes to be projected on the inner screen of my mind, I trance… writing
invokes images from my unconscious… on reconstructing the traumas behind the
images, I make “sense” of them, and once they have “meaning” they are changed,
transformed. It is then that writing heals me, brings me joy.” Gloria Anzaldua
The concept of the body being in a shamanistic trance-like state as our bodies
transform, transition, and evolve within space, became the center of my research.
We all experience this because we all experience heartache, pain, and emotional
stabs and we all heal from them. What does that look like within the body as the
shaman heals us and what process do we go through to get through this phase of
healing? The shaman/curandero stands as a mediator to another dimension, a
liminal space that we must make ourselves vulnerable to until we can reclaim it.
As an artist, my other dimension is inside the installations I create where the body
struggles and heals. It is my responsibility to make the installations I create as
accessible and inclusive as possible to everyone who comes to experience it.
LARRY
WALKER-TONKS
Larry Walker-Tonks was born in Hartlepool, England. He developed an interest in
art at a young age and graduated from Teesside University in 2013 with a Degree
in Fine Art. Shortly after, Larry moved to Manchester in order to further his artistic
career and continued to show work across the UK and internationally. In 2015
Larry began an MA in Contemporary Fine Art at the University of Salford which he
completed in 2017. In 2017 Larry worked as a Design Assistant for the immersive
performance/installation 'Party Skills for the End of the World, part of the
Manchester International Festival 2017. Larry has recently completed an artist
residency at the Embassy of Foreign Artists, Geneva, Switzerland.

Larry Walker-Tonks’ ongoing GRUNDER series which he began during his MA at

the University of Salford after growing tired of having the feeling that his body was
treated as a commodity by other users on dating apps. The series reflects upon
how we present ourselves online; how we use dating apps like Grindr and Tinder;
The consequences of a highly sexualized western culture and how new-found
online anonymity has torn down the boundaries between what is and is not
acceptable public discourse, which has resulted in an accepted laddish
camaraderie and “send nudes” culture in the Facebook age. In this context, the
project serves as an intervention and warning.
 What does your work aim to
say?

My GRUNDER project started

because the more time I spent on
social media and dating apps, the
more I felt like I was being seen as
a commodity, to fulfill a brief
purpose rather than being
respected as a fellow human. My
intention has always been to offer
a reflection on how we are acting
online and how volatile a place
social media can be. It greatly
differs from how we would act in
real-world situations in a face-to-
face encounter. You can be What is the role of artists in
anyone online, you can glamourize society?
your lifestyle where in reality it

might be mundane. You can The Artist plays a hugely important

remain completely anonymous
without fear of reprieve. My work
takes inspiration from the worst of
my own experiences interacting
with people online and
exaggerates everything to a point
whereas as viewers we can see
just how unpleasant and
inhospitable these apps are. My
work serves as a reflection and a
warning, online there isn't anyone
to tell you when your behavior is
not acceptable. My work exists to
remind people that they don't
have to accept their experiences
online as a social norm.
role in society and always has. As
social and political commentators
artists can create impactful pieces
that sift through the clutter of our
day-to-day lives and expose the truth.
The Artist is a truth-teller and
exposes corners of our sheltered
realities to project them on a global
scale. The artist is there to make work
that gives the viewer confidence to
say, "you know what, that is not ok".
The artist is there to cut through
political falsehoods and remind us all
to dig a little deeper. The artist is
there to help us escape in one
instance and then ground us in
reality in the next.
 What type of Art do you Who are your biggest influences?
make and why?

Rachel Maclean! I first saw Rachel's work in
I get asked this question a lot Manchester in 2015 and was instantly hooked by
and the answer is never the playfulness and hard-hitting meaning behind
easy. Like most artists, I have the narrative. Without seeing her work then I feel
dabbled in pretty much every that I could never have made the plunge into
medium I've been lucky working in any form of autobiographical way.
enough to have a go at but
with my GRUNDER project in
particular, because it is so
far-reaching in terms of
where and what it is that it
sort of is all things at once.
The pieces are more clearly
defined when taken out of
their intended context at
group exhibitions when you
can see what it is, be it
painting, sculpture, or digital
painting. However, when
exhibited together during my
solo shows the work
becomes more of an
immersive installation
experience. I like to get
inside the heads of the
viewers and make them feel
a little bit uncomfortable or a
little bit "seen". I feel that
because the world in which
we live and the trends of
what social networking apps
are popular change too
quickly these days that my
work needs to flow and
change with the times which
is why I don't limit myself to
any medium, I like to try and
fit the right medium to what
I'm trying to say.
PAUL
BEAUDOIN

Paul Beaudoin is a globally recognized interdisciplinary artist. His work often

includes large color fields that are interrupted with mark-making above and below
the surface. His series of digital images are often quite biographical and
incorporate "glitch" aesthetics in order to identify with issues surrounding
memory, technology, and surveillance culture. Though "out" for most of his life, it
is only in recent years, that he has allowed his "open" work to appear in public
spaces. His work "Peep Show" was recently featured in the Visual Arts BEARTY
Festival in Tallinn, Estonia.
 Paul, can you tell us about
yourself and your life as an artist?

My name is Paul Beaudoin, and

though I was born in Miami, Florida
(US), I lived much of my life in Boston,
MA, until I permanently left the US 4
years ago. I have worn many hats. I
am an educator, author, public
speaker, and a professionally trained
composer. However, it has only been
in the last decade that I have come
back to making visual art. An
experience I had in my early 20s
blocked me from making any art for
most of my life.

Really, what happened?

I was in an interdisciplinary arts

program in upstate New York and had
the chance to have a small show of
my paintings. At the opening, a
prestigious university critic said to me
What was it about Estonia that
that I should give up painting because
inspired you to take up art again?
my brushstrokes went in every

direction. For some reason, I took

What a great question – I think there
that seriously and stopped painting. It
are two main things. First, in Estonia,
wasn’t until one of my visits to Tallinn,
I felt free of my past. I could explore
Estonia, that my passion for making
without the noise of critics, teachers,
visual art was reawakened. Since
colleagues, and such. The other
then, I have not stopped.
important point is that I feel a
tremendous sense of creative energy
here. Not only is the landscape
inspiring, but the people who are here
making dance, art, music, and theatre,
are open to so much, and that kind of
openness helped me feel safe enough
to make art again.
 Can you say more about what you meant by saying that you “felt safe
enough to make art again?

I knew the second I said that there would be a follow-up to it. Making art is not a
safe thing. Artists must take risks – making art is about exploration, going, so to
speak, deep inside one’s thoughts, emotions, and philosophies. What we, as
artists, uncover there, I hope, gives light to the human condition. When I talked
about being “safe,” I meant that inside my sense of self, I was able to permit myself
to go to those spaces to find answers to questions I have about myself and my
relationship with the world.

There is another aspect to this that I am only now addressing in my personal and
professional life. I have felt as if I were a complete outsider in this world for most
of my life. Inside this dark cloud, I kept myself isolated from many people – and
with that isolation came intense loneliness. Though I acknowledged my sexuality
at a very young age, I was taught that it was something that needed to be hidden.
I was taught to feel shame about myself – deep and very hurtful shame. My self-
isolation and deep, painful shame worked against my creativity as well.
SABRINA
RING

Sabrina Ring is an artist from Brooklyn, New York. Their work includes drawings,
paintings, jewelry, as well as screen-printed embroidered and beaded fashion.
Their work celebrates the queer and trans community through hyper-visibility
using a colorful, sparkly, early 2000s little girls aesthetic. Jewelry and screen-
printed shirts are reproduced and sold online via @dykey_drip on Instagram as
well as in queer-centered flea markets. The money collected is redistributed to
queer and trans-Black, indigenous, and people of color, in order to monetarily
support our community as well as celebrate it.
 Who are you?

I am Sabrina Ring, a non-binary

femme lesbian artist (they/them
pronouns)

What type of art do you make

and why?

My work includes drawings,

paintings, jewelry, as well as
screen-printed embroidered and
beaded fashion. My work
celebrates sexual and gender
euphoria through queer imagery,
hypervisibility, community, and
self-expression. All using a
colorful, sparkly, early 2000s little
girls aesthetic, reclaiming and re
contextualizing femininity to
accommodate queer femmes.

Why did you choose to be an

artist?

I am not sure really, I think

because I saw other queer artists
and thought I could see myself
doing what they were.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the activists who put in

time and effort to support communities
of color and queer people.
 What is your biggest challenge
in being an artist? How do you
address it?
My biggest challenge as an artist is
probably having my art constantly
being unfairly criticized and
misunderstood by straight people.
They hate the colors and the
cartoon characters. They don’t
understand the message I am trying
to express or the people I am trying
to celebrate. But I realized if it
makes them so uncomfortable,
then maybe I am doing something
right.
What does generosity mean to
you as an artist?
that aggressively, unapologetically
Generosity is when you spend time
and money helping someone out,
especially when you are not going
to get anything in return, I guess?
How has your practice changed
over time?
I used to make only paintings and
drawings, but once I started making
silkscreen prints and jewelry my
practice has become more
community based. Now, in addition
to drawing, a very important part of
my practice is selling silk screen
printed shirts to the queer
community. The money collected is
redistributed to queer and trans
Black, indigenous, people of color,
in order to monetarily support our
community as well as visually
celebrate it. When people buy their
clothing and jewelry they walk
around wearing hand-crafted items
celebrate alternative queer and
trans femme lifestyles. Showing
everyone that it is OK to express
your true gender and sexual
identity. As well as monetarily
supporting the members of our
community who face oppression on
multiple levels, encouraging
redistribution of wealth.
What is the role of an artist in
society?
I think artists play many roles in
society. They make wall
decorations. But also art can be
used to relay important messages
and emotions that cannot be
properly shared in any other way.
ETHAN
MOSS
Ethan Moss is a Manchester-based multi-disciplinary performance artist, who
studied at Salford University. His medium of choice is performance but has a
fascination with video medium and digital painting. He has been a part of
Manchester Independants, showing his first live Performance "Just Tuesday" at
53Two. His works have been shown at Paradise Works, Touchstones Rochdale,
Fronteer Gallery, and Salford Museum and Art gallery. He has worked within
Salford University's collection and Salford Museum and Art gallery's collection.

Within my works I strive to translate queer experiences, to recreate my joy of

expression and the discomfort of outness for those who have not experienced it.
My work is autobiographical and unashamedly honest. I focus on showing the
vulnerability and strength inherent in navigating a society built for conformity. I
work within performance largely as the transience and immediacy of the form are
more emotive and connect with the audience on a personal level. My
performance pieces are all about experience, from visual to audio to participation.
I aim to broaden my audience's perceptions of all things queer and to make them
question their opinions.
 Why did you choose to be an artist?

I have always loved to draw and create

since I was young. I always enjoyed
performing dance and poetry and when I
realized art can be all of those things I
was smitten with it. I struggled to choose
between art and my enjoyment of
writing and poetry when I planned for
university but realized I could
incorporate that into my art. I love that
my art can share my ideas and create
emotion.
What is the role of an artist in
society?

It’s an artist's role to document and

imagine. To observe and pay attention to
the things many don’t. Artists exist to
examine, reflect and challenge culture.
It's an artist's role to give the public
questions and create emotions, to
create and foster community. This just
scratches the surface of what artists do
and create, it's such a broad spectrum.

Does your work comment on

current social or political issues and
how?

In the UK it is seen as a political

statement to be openly trans. My work is
inherent to my experiences as a trans
queer man and my relationship with the
trans community. It is vital to my art, to
be honest, and open about trans
experiences. Laws around conversion
therapy and trans healthcare are
constantly in the news and within
parliament currently, and it's extremely
important to keep sharing our stories
and be heard.
 Who are your biggest influences?

The feminist performance art movement of the 60s hugely influences my work,
with the sometimes blunt and abject imagery that is so emotive. Jemima Stehli's
Strip series and Yoko Ono's Cut Piece in particular I find hugely inspirational.
However, if I was to name one artist, Marina Abramovic's works continue to shock
and inspire me, from Rhythm 0's terrifying feat of endurance to Imponderabilia's
examination of gender.

Professionally, what is your goal?

I would love to one day represent my country at the Venice Biennale. Since
attending it I love the atmosphere and huge amount of incredible art all around
the city in those few months. The works continue to inspire me with their ambition
and scope. More broadly my professional goals are to be able to create a career
around my art that still gives me space to create as much as I want.
TAMARA
BERGER
Tamara Berger is a German-based artist. She was born in an artistic family with
many talented artists. Copying images from the art books was her most loved
activity, even before she could read.

Many of her paintings have a strong message about equality and woman
empowerment, as that subject she is very passionate about. Portraits are her
favorite subject, but she loves to go out of her comfort zone and experiment with
a variety of motives.

She has exhibitions regularly in several countries.

 What themes do you pursue? How have you developed your

career?
Red threads in my art are the role of

women, and gender in general, both I was born in an artistic family, but I am
in traditional art and in an autodidact. I started with help from
contemporary society. The ideas of art books and YouTube tutorials and was
Judith Butler, an American very, VERY dedicated. After one year of
philosopher known for her intense painting, I had my first solo
performative model of gender, are exhibition. That is why I always say to
also a source of inspiration for me. people at my art events that everyone
Gender categories "male" and can paint. We all did it in childhood, didn
"female" are not given as natural or ´t we? Talent is only a part of success,
absolute, and binary is constructed the real secret ingredient of making
through repetition of everyday good art is dedication.
practices, as many of my paintings
show (“The knitting man”, “Gaming
geishas”, “Knitting samurai”, etc).

Currently, I'm working on a series for

the exhibition in Japan main idea of
this series of paintings is a
confrontation between traditional
motives in Japanese art like a
mountain, sun, cherry blossom,
geisha, temple, etc. with motives
from the west like Coca-cola, or
McDonald's French Fries. This
discrepancy between modern and
traditional is a way of illustrating the
bad influences of globalization like
losing identities and producing
borning homogeneity in world
cultures. The question of women in
Japanese and general art history is
also thematized by putting women in
active roles (like in the painting
"Geisha with the cordless screw-
drive") and new contexts, (for
example "Coca-cola ceremony",
where the traditional tea ceremony is
recalled).
 What are you doing except being What is the role of an artist in
an artist? society?

I guess I have an affinity to male- Many contemporary art galleries are full
dominated jobs: I have studied of very shallow or no-meaning artworks.
archaeology and I'm still very Those paintings like curtains or sofa
passionate about it, I go to pillows are only there to match the color
excavations and write books and of the furniture. In my opinion, it is part
scientific articles. I also write SF of general consumeristic tendencies in
literature and have many published society.
short stories in several countries. Both The role of an artwork should be
science and literature are male- different from that. It is to raise
dominated areas, same as art. questions and support critical thinking.
Besides, I play bass guitar and play in The artist has the responsibility of raising
the sandbox with my kids. questions about the issues in society. To
Why did you choose to be an fight for those whose voices are not
artist? equally considered, like Robin Hood who

steals the attention and brings it back to
I didn't choose it! I'm a very curious marginalized groups who need it.
person with many interests. But art
became something more than just fun
- it grew into real once-in-a-lifetime
love. The process of making art is
something that makes me enormously
happy. It makes me bloom inside! I
enjoy every aspect of my art life:
making paintings, regularly taking part
in exhibitions in Germany as well as in
other countries, teaching art, and
traveling to artist residencies.
TOM
JEZEK
Tom Jezek was born in NYC, He attended Pratt Institute in 1968, a turbulent era
and the beginnings of the gay rights movement. Tom's paintings at the time
reflected a queer ethos and while studying at the School of the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston, art expanded to include video and photography of drag
performance and dressing and audio recollections of a queer childhood.
Returning to NYC, paintings explored gay themes and non-figurative abstraction,
and Tom exhibited work in galleries in NYC. Moving to Maine in 2016, Tom
continues to explore both gay themes and abstraction.

''The drawings and paintings are about fantasies and feelings, memory and desire, and
activity and adventure. They represent dreamlike spaces, inner realities, and
expressions of rapture and emotional connectedness. I sometimes like to use narratives
that are a bit open-ended, and somewhat ambiguous, as to allow more possibilities for
interpretations. The images are inspired by surrealism, pornography, comic books,
superheroes, and gay archetypes.''
 What is your biggest challenge in How has your practice changed
being an artist? How do you address over time?
it?

Over time my practice has come to
The biggest challenge to being an artist, be more concentrated. What I want
for me, is finding a way to bring my work to say in all of my work is clear to me
to the world. It’s a job that needs to be and the best tools and most of the
employed in addition to that of making expedient processes I use are more
art. I’ve recently been trying to show evident to me.
work in publications and online virtual
exhibitions.

What does generosity mean to you What type of art do you make
as an artist? and why?

As an artist, generosity is in the very I have two current interests,

nature of creating. All artists want to exploring gay themes, and non-
share their visions and communicate figurative abstraction. I find that
them to the world. having dual concentrations expand
and support both investigations.

How do you work?

I work in a variety of ways, sometimes it’s

essential to collect and utilize reference
materials. That’s the case, especially in
my queer, figurative work. In my non-
figurative work, the process is more
organic, ironically, since my digital
sketches are intrinsic to the process.
 What do you like/dislike about the
art world?
Recently what I like about the art world
is the expansion of alternate exhibition
possibilities, virtual and online as well
as the multiple streams of types of art.
What I dislike about the art world is
when it exhibits a close-minded
granting of value to the mainstream,
anointed art at the expense of new
and unconventional forms and
practices.
How do you know when a painting
is done?
I am revealing and refining my
I know a painting is done when I’ve felt
I’ve addressed the implicit challenge in
its making and explored its’ essential
nature. It’s done when I feel I’ve done
all I can for it and its time has come to
venture out into the world!
How important are titles for
you?
Titles are fun for me, sometimes
they’re more descriptive than
others, but I also enjoy less literal
and more fanciful or personal
titles. When I was very young, I
enjoyed writing. Now, I enjoy
creating titles as writing in the
“short form”.
What does your art mean to
you?
concerns and ideas as I work so
that it is an opportunity for
personal growth. I'm making art, I
express interests and thoughts in
a way that goes beyond mere
description or explanation. So, my
art is a prime source of
communication for me and a way
that I engage with the world.
What is the role of an artist in
society?
All artists are activists in that art
activity is by nature a comment
about value and meaning in the
world. Of course, some artists
have concerns that more directly
address social and political issues
but all artists make a statement
about personal freedom and
volition, and an individual or
group’s relation to the world,
simply by making art.
CLO
SARGENT
Clo is a non-binary artist based in Plymouth, UK. They create illustrations and is
involved in Plymouth's street art scene. With a degree in Animation, their work is
informed by the practices of moving-image formats. Investigating themes such as
queerness, femme-hood, and the surreal, they use vibrant color palettes to
highlight the exploration of aggressive self-acceptance through camp aesthetics.
Clo has worked with poets, writers, and other creatives in previous projects to
develop their skills in world-building. Their work is featured throughout the streets
of Plymouth, on the Polyester Dollhouse blog and they are a regular participant in
local exhibits.

''I think of my illustrations as film stills, at any point, the subjects could come to life and
tell you about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. My work is focused on fostering
environments with optimistic realities; indulging in a narrative through busy
backgrounds and compelling characters. Cinema is an immense influence on my work
and I rely on the universal film language to give my characters life. The goal is for the
audience to live vicariously through these stills.''
 What is your background?

I was born and raised in Plymouth, a

city that I have only recently come to
appreciate. I would fanatically watch
classic movies and read Tennessee
Williams to escape the grey, post-war
buildings. I was and still am addicted
to Technicolor. That routine of
escapism manifested in drawing at a
young age. In 2015 I applied to the
local art college, I received a diploma What type of art do you make and
in Art and Design and a BA in why?
Animation. Artistic forms of

expression have been integral to my I create digital illustrations, usually

being, from film to photography, depicting alien femmes in their everyday
make-up artistry, and abstract art, all lives. I do this is show the potential joy of
this has informed my practice. queer femininity, rather than lean into
the stoic, trauma-informed, a
representation that is often shown to
What inspires you? non-queer audiences.

Cinema and film language inform my

work, from John Waters' oeuvre, 50's
B-movies, 60's exploitation films, and
80's teen rom-com, I enjoy when
camp aesthetics are placed in an
everyday environment. The
heightened reality builds a wonderful
surreal take on the mundane. I am
also influenced by the Beat
Generation; though I must admit that
I am not their target demographic.
Ginsberg's poems have been a focus
of my most recent work. The radical,
manufactured femininity of 20th-
century actresses (Jayne Mansfield,
Mae West, etc...) is aesthetically
interesting to me, I emulate them
with my alien femmes.
 How has your practice changed over
time?

I started by creating visual diaries,

drawing my life as I wished others to see
it. These would be drawn with awful
markers that would bleed onto every
page of the notebook. This was my
preferred method of creating for most of
my teenhood. I started to digitally draw
by rotoscoping famous film stills in Flash
and then began making very short,
experimental animations. Studying
animation was a formative experience in
my practice, it informed me of the
nuances of drawing and I was able to
understand my strengths. My work is
best when I'm not confining my figures

within harsh outlines but the tonal values balanced with knowledge of color
theory. I am generally working in a digital format however in 2021 I have started to
participate in the Plymouth street art scene which has opened up new challenges
that I am eager to learn from.
LAWRENCE
AARON
Cosmos Illustrations

Lawrence Aaron is a visual and 3D artist, who uses the method of storytelling,
illustration, and animation to encourage discussion, awareness, and education of
Autism Spectrum conditions (ASC). My current MA project is exploring the sensory
side of being an autistic artist, and how art provides as a visual aid tool to help
him socialize and engage with his peers in a way that is more suited to his needs.
Lawrence incorporates auto-ethnography, phenomenology, and semiotics into his
artistic practice, to enrich storytelling methods.

''I am an autistic, queer artist who is exploring their atypicality through the methods of
illustration, animation, and storytelling. I am exploring my identity as an autistic
person in a neurotypical world, and my hope is that my work provides the atypical and
neurodiverse community with a voice, visual representation, and hope, as well as
providing awareness and education.''
 What type of art do you make
I also find one of the hardest parts of
and why?
creating for me is the fear of failure, as I

suffer from chronic anxiety disorders,

I use the method of illustration and
and I often get paralyzed by that fear. It
creative writing, with elements of
is possibly the biggest hurdle I face daily
animation to convey invisible
as an illustrator.
disabilities, such as autism and
ADHD, with the theme of space. I am What is your biggest challenge in
a multi-disciplinary artist because it being an artist? How do you address
satisfies my autistic needs for it?
sensory input. I also use multi-

disciplinaries to incorporate my My biggest challenge in being an artist is

special interests as an autistic artist.
What does your work aim to say?
My hope as a creative is to educate
and raise awareness of autism.
Although autism is more understood
and represented in society than it
previously has been, there are still a
lot of myths and stigmas
surrounding being an autistic person
– and a person who has additional
learning disabilities on top of being
autistic. If my work helps at least one
person who is on the spectrum to
feel included and heard, then being
an illustrator with hidden disabilities
is worth it.
What is the hardest part of
creating for you?
my autism and ADHD. I struggle to
initiate ideas and move away from my
comfort zone, suffer terrible time-
management keeping skills, and never
know how to finish a project off – or the
complete opposite and never know
when to stop. I address these challenges
by embracing the positives of having
ADHD and autism – having an
abundance of ideas, experiencing
intense periods of hyper-focus, using
mind-maps, and adding as much
structure and routine to my creative
practice.

The hardest part of creating for me

is having unrealistic expectations of
myself, due to the need to feel that
everything must be perfect before it
can be placed in a public space. I am
challenging this by purposely
creating artwork that does not have
perfectly drawn lines and
incorporating my mark as an
illustrator.
GOBSCURE
Artistic associates with Disability Arts Online & Museum of Homelessness (both
are lived experiences). artist in residence with NewBridge Project 2022. film
commissions include Northern Broadsides, Graeae, Dash, Live theatre, and Spot
On Lancashire, together with 2020 Disability History Month. solo exhibitions
internationally since 2017 with Fokidos Athens; Alma Zevi Venice; University of
Atypical Belfast; Arthouse Wakefield; The NewBridge Project Tyneside. Unlimited
funded book of radical photographic self-portraiture 'plant a forest after were
gone. disruptor-in-residence at Edinburgh Printmakers supported by Future’s
Venture Foundation radical independent art fund (2021). two Sound&Music
awards; sound-walk commission from the Auxiliary Teesside.

''Barely surviving in a homeless hostel after our worst sectioning (mental health act
detention) we came across the art of Sergei Parajanov. Georgian, Armenian, trained in
Ukraine, we fell in love with the childlike wonder of this 'fat mad big-kid bisexual
lifelong dissident'. soviets repeatedly tried silencing Parajanov, partly for his bisexuality,
but he never stopped questioning authoritarian rule and the 'norms' of that society. we
recognize ourselves in Sergei's life, sexuality & art, here are prints from writing Liberte
with lips. In response: about life and learning how to live again offering playful-poetic-
political creative-resistances''.
 What type of art do you make
and why?
Rose carved in the rain. solo
We work with anything & everything -
sound, visuals, performance, words,
pyro, food, film, luggage tags, crime-
scene tape, liquid-chalk markers,
banners, shadows, rivers, stones,
feathers, yarn - anything we can lay
our hands on ... much of our work
seems to be projects built bit by bit
using whatever art feels right - we try
telling 'wide' stories, making unusual
connections, being human and
including folx rather than being
clever.
Some current projects
performance, exhibitions including
prints and participation, visual poetry,
installation, poetry, and sound art &
all offering 'fat, mad, big-kid bisexual
dissidence'. its starting point was
around 20 years ago when we were
barely surviving in a homeless hostel
after the worst sectioning of our life,
but stumbled across the art of Sergei
Parajanov and fell in love with the
childlike wonder and artwork. the
soviets tried to silence Parajanov for
using art and film to speak out
against authoritarian rule and
question the norms of society. so far
different bodies of work have been
exhibited with the NewBridge Project
and Edinburgh Printmakers, thanks
to Futures Venture Foundation
Radical Independent Art Fund.
 What does generosity mean to you Does your work comment on
as an artist? current social or political

issues and how?
Folx out there we've met - some call

themselves artists, some don't see Face it, everything is political-

themselves as that but all have been slash-social, someone saying arts
generous with time, thoughtfulness, apolitical is still being 'done' to by
supporting us - we think this nurture is politics & society & top-down
how things should be - it's saying that narratives - breathing air is
despite what lives throws at you here's political (air pollution!) - we want
some space/time where you can focus our art to be 'useful' - relevant -
a little differently, be different, perhaps speak - sometimes our work
ultimately even work on something comments overtly, sometimes we
creatively without judgment - and we satirize... a lot of our work is
try and do this too (hopefully we're 'sloooow' & so deals with broad
getting better at it) if we are fortunate themes which are long-term social
to have some opportunity we like to issues - e.g. mental distress,
share but without pressure and not power/lessness, homelessnesses,
setting folx up to fail - giving some time disabilities, biphobia & bi-erasure
& space without pressure, listening, (erasure of bisexual identities),
offering perhaps hospitality (food, human & other rights (including
listening) or resources (materials, the environment) - a lot of lived
space, money if it can be raised), or experience.
opportunity - it's without expectation,
their needs be no outcome, just
making that offer is more than enough
- sometimes it seeds things slowly,
generosity is the opposite of being an
arthole! in no particular order folx who
have been generous to us include
clowns n fools n fellow crazies n kids &
online zines & the anti-apartheid
movement & also folx like Tom
Leonard, Mike Crawford,
purplestateofmind, Maria Thomas,
Mike Layward, Bobby Baker, Shân
Edwards, Selma Dimitrijevic,
radiophonic, Jess & Matt & all in the
museum of homelessness, Third Angel,
Slung Low, the NewBridge project,
apologies for folx we've missed.
KEITH
BUSWELL
Keith Buswell graduated with a BFA in art University of Nebraska--Lincoln. He
works with various printmaking processes such as screen-printing, intaglio, and
mono printing and dabbles in drawing and multimedia. He currently is a member
of Karen Kunc’s Constellation Studios where he creates his prints. His work has
been shown in the United States, Egypt, Dubai, France, and Italy. Keith became
curator/co-captain of the Tugboat Gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska. Originally from
Council Bluffs, Iowa, he currently lives in Lincoln with his husband Brad and his
dog Max.

This body of work titled Unmentionables uses floral symbols juxtaposed with
undergarments and taboo accessories to reveal flagrant and fragrant
misconceptions surrounding the sexes. Utilizing the stark and graphic nature of
the pencil on paper against the feminine backdrop of ready-made fabric,
acknowledging my own preconceptions of the gender spectrum with cultural
meanings of botany. These stereotypes become the artificial amphorae that
contain life. By exposing the layers just above our skin, unveiling comical and
controversial imagery normally deemed inappropriate, this work not only
showcases my own preconceived notions of gender but also the generic
symbolism flowers also hold.
 What is your background?
three courses that interested me in the

hopes that something would spark in me;

I am the oldest of four children
were insect biology, communications, and
who grew up in a conservative,
art history. While all three courses were
Baptist family. At a fairly young
instrumental in shaping who I am today,
age, I knew to whom I was
especially as an artist, the art history class
attracted, but because of my
made me see how important the visual arts
family situation, I kept my
are to this world. Artists have helped to
homosexuality a secret. I was
shape the world through dialogue and
lucky enough to open up first to
controversy, and I wanted to be a part of
friends and then my siblings
that.
about my situation but found
What inspires you?
myself unable to tell my parents.

This secret ate me up inside. I

My work stems from the intersection of
turned to drugs to help cope with
science and sociology in an attempt to
my inability to cope with these
bridge the gap between what is natural and
lies, and after seven years of
what is artificial. For me, the inspiration not
internal hell, I found my now
only comes from the natural world, but the
husband, Brad. He helped me
abstract ideas humans have used to define
find the help I needed and to
their own lives. In this body of work, it is the
finally completely open up.
stereotypes imposed on queer individuals
Sometimes, I think my mother
compared to the arbitrary meanings of
likes him more than me.
Why did you choose to be an flowers. I will say this usually arises from
artist? whatever I am reading or experiencing at

the time. In this case, I was taking a Gay and
After going back to school at the Lesbian Literature course and was inspired
age of 34, I struggled to figure out by topics such as gender, power dynamics,
what I wanted to study. I took and HIV/AIDS.
 What themes do you pursue?
an artist?
Right now I am obsessed with three
different bodies of work that satisfy
my need to draw, paint, and make
three-dimensional art. As far as
drawing is concerned, it is this body
of work that asks broader questions
about queer identity. In my print
work, I am focused on the
community through tree portraiture.
Did you know trees talk to each other
and help one another through a
complex system of fibrous fungi? I
love this as a symbol of community.
Recently I have been exploring
viruses through fabric balls as a
means of discussing the pain illness
has on us. But for me, all of these
topics fall under the umbrella of
queer art. After all, I am a queer
artist.
What are you doing except being
When I am not focused on my art
career, I work at a local art supply
store. I love that job. I really enjoy
not only interacting with other
artists but also talking to amateur
artists about what they are creating
and helping them figure out how to
make their vision happen. In my
spare time, if I have any, I like to
travel, go to concerts, and get
together with friends.
Professionally, what is your
goal?
Right now my goal is to establish
myself as an emerging artist by
applying to group exhibitions
nationally and internationally while
trying to get solo representation at a
local level. I would like to explore the
possibility of graduate school in the
near future, but I am not sure I want
to torture myself quite yet.
ANGELA
GALVAN
Angela Galvan is a dark-kitsch photorealistic painter, born in Venice, Italy, where
she studied at the Academy of fine arts and graduated in Philosophy. Later moved
to England and Pisa where she graduated in the History of art. Right now she lives
between Hungary and Slovenian, teaching Italian at university and painting. She is
part of the collective Hungarian movin' gallery and has exhibited in Hungary,
Slovenia, and Italy.

''My paintings are mostly oils on canvas, with very detailed and almost invisible brush
strokes. I'm inspired by the late Titian, Caravaggio's light, and the concept of kitsch of
Odd Nerdrum. My main subject is portraits of young androgynous guys, almost always
sad or meditating, often erotic. I think that female nudity is accepted in the art, and
objectified in everyday life, while male nudity is still taboo; and as a female painter, I
want to make a statement and show the frustration of sexuality and of love from
another and less used perspective.''
Why did you choose to be an artist?

Like most kids, I started drawing when I

was two and my parents wanted me to
do something on my own, and I've
never stopped. I prefer to call myself a
painter, not an artist (a dark kitsch
photorealistic painter to be precise),
but painting has come naturally to me
and there is nothing I rather do.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by my friends and

partner. All my models are people dear
to me and when I paint I try to
understand how they feel and what
they think: posing can be a long
process and I want to depict not only
the smile but also the reason why they
are smiling. Painting a portrait for me is
a way to get to know a person better.
 What themes do you pursue?

My paintings are divided into two

subjects: portraits of androgenous
young guys, often sad and erotic; and
human landscapes devoid of life. The
portraits aim to show emotions while
the landscapes want to show the
relationship between man and nature.

How do you work?

I mostly work with oil on canvases and

tiny brushes. I paint at 2 in the
afternoon to get the best light, or in
the evening with a glass of wine and
some background music.

What are you doing except being

an artist?

I am a professional Italian teacher, I

teach privately and at university. I
would like to teach the History of art. In
my free time, I travel, read, study
languages, and take care of my garden.

What do you like about the Art

world?

I think being a female and relatively

young painter is harder than for my
male colleague. Art is historically a male
job and women have been relegated to
the role of muses and models, and
while female nudity is very popular,
male nudes are still a taboo – one I
would like to demolish. But this is not
necessarily a bad thing and it can turn
into a challenge. Art is a creative and
stimulating environment.