'Fluid' motion: 516 Arts exhibit explores gender expression through contemporary art

Kathaleen Roberts, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·3 min read

Oct. 9—"Fluid Gaze" responds to today's homophobic social climate by addressing the subtleties of gender expression through contemporary art.

Open at 516 Arts at a time when drag show bans and anti-trans legislation is sweeping the country, the show features the work of 13 artists of various 2SLGBTQIA+ identities, from Indigenous, non-Indigenous and Latinx perspectives.

The show marks the non-collecting gallery's first exhibition focused on queer identity.

Curated by Rachelle B. Pablo (Diné,) the exhibit uses fluidity as a metaphor conveyed through a variety of mediums, including textiles, beaded garments, earthen materials, scrimshaw, virtual reality and performance.

The exhibiting artists include sheri crider (the owner of Albuquerque's Sanitary Tortilla Factory artists' studios) and Obie Weathers III, Adri De La Cruz, Amanda Curreri and claudia hermano, famed feminist artist Harmony Hammond, Sam Kirk, Lehuauakea (mahu mixed-Native Hawaiian Kanaka Maoli), Gabriel Maestas, Jenny Irene Miller (Inupiaq), Roin Morigeau (Bitterroot Salish Flathead Nation/French), José Villalobos and Zefren-M (Navajo).

"I felt inspired not only because of my self-identity as a queer Indigenous woman," Pablo said. "What I saw in public perpetuated stereotypes."

Pablo designed the exhibit to be fluid culturally as well as sexually.

Third gender and mixed-Native Hawaiian Lehuauakea creates kapa cloth from native trees. The artist uses the pronouns they/them, and their art explores social and biological ecologies, cultural and environmental resilience and Indigenous identity.

The artist focuses on the labor-intensive work focuses on the labor-intensive work of making traditional bark cloth, carved bamboo printing tools and natural pigments, breathing new life into patterns and traditions practiced for generations.

Kirk is a Chicago-based, award-winning multidisciplinary artist who explores culture and identity politics. Her work is part of the National Museum of Mexican Art, owned by Grammy Award-winning musicians Daddy Yankee and Pitbull. Kirk created "La Verdad," a painted homage to gay icons Frida Kahlo and the Mexican singer Chavela Vargas. Her piece "Cholo/a" shows a male figure wearing a Virgin of Guadalupe T-shirt and waving a fan.

"These works are presented so you see a transition of gender," Pablo said. "These are going to dazzle the eyes."

Miller (Inupiaq) works primarily in photography. Her black and white piece shows a figure standing in a forest holding an ax, cradling two melons in front of her chest.

"She's imagining her future self," Pablo said. "It's a pre-top surgery woman before the transition stage. This is a fluid image of this figure."

Crider and the Texas inmate Weathers will collaborate on virtual reality interpretations of his prison cell.

Maestas (they/them) is a visual artist and designer from northern New Mexico. The artist conducted a genealogical research project that revealed the 18th-century witch trials of Abiquiú village and the Genízaro peoples' hidden identity, which links to their DNA. "Embrujo, No. 1 — The Red Letter" is loosely influenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" and symbolizes Maestas's hidden identity.