NUDES; Queerness, Community, Loneliness, and Vulnerability
For my last year I had been revisiting and thinking more deeply about various topics that I've explored throughout my time at in the New Media program at Purchase College. Some of these main topics include Queer identity and issues, communities, and life in the network.
As part of my project, I engaged with Yonkers community to better understand the resources that LGBTQ youth Yonkers, NY have. This journey lead me to conduct a workshop with the Roosevelt High School GSA club (Gay-Straight Alliance) and the John Jay High School SAGA club (Sexuality And Gender Alliance) [in Katonah, NY and my former high school]. In these workshops we discussed pronouns, learned about New Media art and some Queer Art, we examined zines, and we discussed issues that the LGBTQ youth face at school, home, and in their local community. These conversation with young people are incredibly important because it allows them to speak about issues and ask questions that they might not otherwise get the opportunity to do.
This is the first step, in a longer goal of working with the many LGBTQ in Yonkers, NY to utilize the resources at the local library, explore New Media art, and collaborate on a zine or series of zines in which young people can share their own voices through their art, with the broader community.
The project will also feature an art book series, which will be on display at the Sticky Keys show (see STATUS UPDATE for details). The series will be a continuation of a previous zine, and will consist of six booklets, with the theme of each corresponding to a different color/meaning of the pride flag (ie. booklet one will focus on red/life). These booklets will feature reflections and images of my own experiences as a Queer person.
