Living Archives: A Contemporary Portrait of Queer Kentucky

This exhibition features four contemporary artists recording and celebrating their queer lives as they are living them. From John Brooks's vibrant portraiture of his gay community to Ceirra Evans's narrative depictions of butch Appalachian identity, from the queer emotions archived in Kat Smith's quilting to an interactive altar documenting collective trans persistence offered by Borealis, these artists articulate moments of queer intimacy, self-determination, and hope. Despite the persistent danger of a hostile political climate, these works emerge as vital records of queer existence. These archives-in-the-making portray aspects of Kentucky often obscured by conventional notions of the state and provide transformational images of our contemporary community. Through a diverse array of media which is variously sketched, stitched, sipped, and sentimental, artists with attachments to the Bluegrass region articulate and abstract their relationships and experiences of home as they contribute to living archives.

Exhibition curated as part of the seminar Queer Theory & Curating. Organizers include Borealis, Rae Bruce, Sophie De Corte, Andrew Hahn, Miriam Kienle, Pascalle LeRoy, Christopher Steffan, Kiana White, and Cate Wollert