The San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery is thrilled to present our new student-curated exhibition, Pride and Protest: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Love and Activism. It is a love letter celebrating the beauty and creativity that blossoms with self-discovery and acceptance. Featuring 25 artists from different backgrounds, the works examine and express the individual and collective experiences of the LGBTQ+ community and allies of the community.

​

Angel Albie Anjos draws upon the classics to create highly saturated, vibrant, and commanding depictions of queer icons from mythological and religious origins. In Saint Niko, Saint Sebastian’s martyred profile is subverted to focus not on the suffering but rather the confidence, writes Anjos, of those unapologetically claiming their identity and tackling adversity with grace. Creating a line of cultural continuity from ancient times to the present, Anjos’ paintings both draw upon and redraw ideological boundaries regarding gender and sexuality. Stevan Dupus’ paintings compose and craft a voyeuristic gaze into queer spaces from the San Diego bar scene. In Herpes is the Glitter of the Gay Community, Dupus’ illustrative rendition of patrons reveals casual socialization, quiet moments of connection, and loneliness. Graphic and impasto elements, as well as dustings of glitter, play with the illusion of a suspended moment. This gaze raises inquiry, he says, to the audience’s self-positioning as part of, or distinct from, the community via the aspects they relate to or feel alienated from. In this way, both artists reframe and reclaim perceptions of the LGBTQ+ experience.

​

j Vargas, Jessica Yambao, and Cassie Cooties employ a variety of media to examine the spectrum of beauty within gender identity, expression, and sexuality. Ethereal yet grounded, Vargas’ fine-wire mesh sculptures evoke curiosity and contemplation. Depicting the dynamic synergy between the masculine and feminine energies existing within us all, they posit a falsity in the presumption of a binary framework. Color marks an intentional shift in Vargas’ practice; a promise, they write, to express the fullness of their identity as non-binary and queer by taking “up space, instead of making myself small.” Color also plays a large part in Yambao’s paper collages, which act as meditative studies on self-love and expression. In Kaleidoscope, Yambao celebrates the trans community and likens the evolving, shifting, and merging of colors in a kaleidoscope to the right to grow, affirm, and live authentically as one’s true self. Cassie Cooties’ audio-visual piece, Crushes 1999-2012, uses storytelling to relate experiences and thus normalize and validate queer desire and sexuality. The narration is coupled with sketches of the crushes and loves that impacted their youth. Personal and penetrating, these anecdotes invite the audience to consider the universality of wanting to be someone special to the one we long for.

​

In her Quarantine Lovers series, Katie Ruiz captures intimate snapshots of couples in their bedrooms—hearts and limbs entangled under the covers. Gouache paintings, blending warm and earthy tones, reveal affectionate moments in relationships. She portrays the soft and delicate stirrings of love, sensual and lazy explorations, desire and devotion, and the bonds that lead people to seek out their homes in the safety of one another. Ruiz deftly utilizes blankets to communicate that bond and, she writes, “to abstract the form, making the figures fluid in their gender and sexuality.” Christopher Ferreria’s photographs likewise use the intimacy of domestic spaces to explore relationships and identity. Home is where one begins is a portrait series that documents the “queering of space that occurs,” Ferreria explains, with gay men in their private sanctuaries and daily lives. Using masculine-defined objects or homoerotic imagery, he presents new narratives of queer life through a domestic lens. Representations such as these by Ruiz and Ferreria challenge society’s heteronormative ideal within the American Dream by revealing the personal lives of those historically othered, devalued, and suppressed in our nation.

​

Art is more than just an exploration or affirmation of the self; it can be a powerful act of resistance and social protest. This is especially true, relevant, and necessary in our current political climate. Through various styles and diverse perspectives, Pride and Protest brings these 25 artists together to represent and stand in unity with the LGBTQ+ community. We invite you to join us on November 2, from 4-7 pm, to celebrate love and activism.