The Queer Portrait Project is a collaboration with the queer community, pairing each participant's narrative with my portrait of them. Queer people are often seen as faceless, autologous, nameless. One queer person becomes a representative and stand-in for a monolithic whole, robbing them of their own autonomous story. The Queer Portrait Project illuminates the breadth, depth, joys, struggles, and particularities of individual members of the queer community. The paintings and writings together allow the viewer to see and identify with the personal, distinctive, and particulate examples of each project contributor.

Friday, June 15, 2018

Alex



Queer is my preferred primary identifier because of its flexibility. I identify as bisexual as well, but I don’t feel like I’ve got it all figured out just yet in regards to genders I am attracted to, or even my own gender. Queer lets me express the sentiment of ‘I’m not exactly sure, but I’m definitely not straight, and maybe not cis.’ It also gets me less side-eye than bisexual sometimes does in spaces that are branded LGBTQ+, which shouldn’t happen, but it does all the time.

I have so many other identities: parent, teacher, nurse, spouse, researcher, student, bisexual; queer is the only one that doesn’t rely on my positioning related to others. It’s just who I am. It allows me the freedom to explore different aspects of myself, such as my gender presentation, passion for equality in healthcare, and love of queer spaces without feeling as if any choice that I make is incorrect or bad. It’s all just queer, and it all fits within the queer spectrum.

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