Art After Dark
BMoA Celebrates Pride
Sponsored by Moneywise Wealth Management
Thursday, June 25, 2020 - Friday, July 3, 2020
Online Only
While we could not have a physical event this year, we used our online platforms to celebrate Pride and give a voice to the LGBTQ+ community. On June 25th we started a nine-day campaign celebrating, educating, and memorializing Pride and queer artists within the greater context of conversations about diversity, inclusiveness, and intersectionality.
June is Pride month and today would have marked our second annual Art After Dark Pride celebration. Now more than ever, it is crucial to remember that Pride began as a protest to stand up for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community which has historically underrepresented BIPOC’s (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). This year BMoA is honoring Pride with an educational and celebratory series running through July 3rd (the conclusion of the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots) by providing powerful examples of the intersectionality of the LGBTQ+ experience through contemporary artwork, historical materials and local stories.
Art After Dark is proudly sponsored by Moneywise Wealth Management, without whose support this program would not be possible.
Today we are highlighting a selection of Bakersfield-based artists, each with unique intentions and complex framework which supersede sexuality or gender. Please visit each of their pages to further explore their work. Another group of artists will be featured later in the series.
Ángela “Angel” Divina
“My work aims to bridge the gap between fine art and domesticity in Mexican households as it pertains to food, craft, pottery, and other forms of preserving tradition and heritage. My work celebrates my life and interests as a transgender woman.”
- Ángela “Angel” Divina @menudo.jpg
Victor Gonzales
“As a contemporary figure artist, who identifies as gay, the male form is the muse behind my creative process. I like to challenge the taboo ideology that the nude form is hypersexual by turning the body into art, while also depicting that a man doesn't just have to be seen as strong and masculine but also vulnerable and feminine.”
-Victor Gonzales @victorrrgonz
Gavin Arechiga
“Hey Sunshine is a testament to the fight for survival and seeking acceptance over hate and ignorance. I made this work in response to the intersection of the BLM movement and Pride, it gave me an outlet to show solidarity with the voices of Black individuals in the LGBTQ+ community who, unfortunately, are often ignored when it comes to conversations about representation.”
-Gavin Arechiga @oh_no_sadboy_slim
Drag is performance art with deep roots in ancient Greek, medieval, and Shakespearean theaters, when the roles of women were played by men. A performance consists of exaggerating a physical presentation culturally associated with another gender. Drag’s defiance of conventional gender roles and sexuality make it a compelling source of inspiration for contemporary art. Beginning in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis, and now in the mainstream media, this commanding form of expression continues to be an outlet for the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
Bakersfield-based Shaleah Moore (@beyinspireddiva_) shares her experience:
“Hi everyone, I’m Shaleah Moore! I’m a licensed cosmetologist and salon owner by day and a Fun Queen by night! I have always had a passion and love for the arts, music, and the stage! At the age of four, I didn’t know what drag was at that time with my paper wigs and cotton town gowns, but hunny, I was a Queen from the beginning. I started in the drag /trans world 15 years ago, and in that short time I’ve seen the community grow and blossom. We now have more fabulous Queens coming out and shining, being the true divas they’re destined to be; bold, fierce, and daring! When I started it wasn’t easy coming out, we had to hide who we were and sometimes be afraid to get in a taxi to make it to the club, but now we’re more confident, strong, fierce and loved by many. We still have a ways to go, but as a community and as a whole we’ve come a long ways together! To up-and-coming Queens, be your beautiful self and don’t let anything or anyone dim your light. The way that you think, the way that you create and the way that you love are all beautiful. You are the Queen, so shine!”
Pride month was established in 1969 to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising. The movement and fight for equality for the LGBTQ+ community began long before this date and continues to be of the utmost importance today. We must acknowledge and celebrate that the uprising at Stonewall started largely with the efforts of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Stormé DeLarverie, all women of color, who devoted their lives to advocating for homeless LGBTQ+ youth and those affected by HIV and AIDS. Like many BIPOC experiences, Johnson, Rivera, and DeLarverie were erased from the telling of this history for far too many years.
Local pride history begins 1982.
In Bakersfield, the earliest documented public support and fight for LGBTQ+ rights happened in the early 1980s. The annually held rallies met downtown at the Liberty Bell. In the first few years, attendees adorned paper bags over their heads, proclaiming, “My face is in the closet, but my feet are free!” out of fear of losing employment. In 2004, @BakersfieldLGBTQ began hosting the first Pride celebration, which continues to be a community highlight every year in October.
“then the voice in my head said
WHETHER YOU LOVE WHAT YOU LOVE
OR LIVE IN DIVIDED CEASELESS
REVOLT AGAINST IT
WHAT YOU LOVE IS YOUR FATE”
2018 Pulitzer Prize winning poet Frank Bidart was born in Bakersfield, California in 1939. He was the only child of a prosperous potato farmer and after attending Garces Memorial High School, he earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Riverside. He pursued graduate studies at Harvard University, and in 1972 began teaching at Wellesley College. He currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Bidart has received numerous awards for his work including the Bollingen Prize in Poetry (2007) and the National Book Award (2017).
As a child, American film was an escape and his earliest introduction to art and creativity. Bidart did not ‘come out’ until after his parents’ death and much of his work documents the duality and inner conflict of that narrative presenting a queer self who resents being looked at by straight eyes. In the poem “Queer” written in 2012, Bidart mentions his adolescence as a ‘gay kid’ in the 40s and 50s as a past tense American experience. Unfortunately for many, these fears and realities are relatable still today.
Above Poems:
“Guilty of Dust (Excerpt)” 1984 © 1987 Frank Bidart
“Queer” 2012 Copyright © 2013 by Frank Bidart
Photo: Bidart at Home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2013. Photo courtesy of Webb Chappell Photography.
Today we are highlighting a selection of Bakersfield-based artists, each with unique intentions and complex framework which supersede sexuality or gender. Please visit each of their pages to further explore their work. Another group of artists was featured earlier in the series.
Skyla Loveland
"My work has always been centered around my struggle with self-identity. I feel queerness is not only about accepting who you are but embracing who you are. Being a young, bisexual woman has taught me how to integrate this idea of acceptance into my art and my life."
-Skyla Loveland @skylaloveland
John Olivo
“Queerness informs some of my work through using my body & iconic semiotics referencing the Act Up Movement (Act Up is an AIDS activist organization founded in 1987) & Pop Art through a Chicanx lens. I'm interested in where these subjects intersect in their relation to not only my queerness, but in creating a safe space for these influences to coexist visually and contextually."
-John Olivo @ovilo_nhoj
Martin Narvaéz (@iamthatpicturedude) is a Kern County-based Graphic Designer, who has spent his career working with the Drag community.
In his own words:
He shares his story here:
“My name is Martin Narvaéz and I am a Graphic Designer. I started graphic design out of high school and fell in love with creating. When I went to my first drag show I saw color and I saw sound; my mind went into overdrive. The next day of work was filled with ideas, techniques, and color combinations to mimic what I saw. In 2012 I moved to Bakersfield, I reached out to a drag queen and the rest is history. My work started taking off in many different directions: custom T-shirts, photography, videos, animated flyers, websites, and more. I started a campaign “I am who I am” centered around our local Drag Queens. Working with drag queens and a few celebrities has opened so many doors and for that, I'm thankful. A drag queen changed my graphic design life. I have begun a new venture of running a photobooth, but even with that my love of drag queens still soars as we proudly support a drag brunch by offering our services. Building queens up to their potential is key. I will always support a queen who values herself and knows what she is capable of.”
Today we highlight The Center of Sexuality & Gender Diversity, (@thecenterbak), a local non-profit providing safe, supportive spaces and services to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The Center is currently offering its services virtually. Their individual counseling services are available Monday through Saturday.
Please call their offices to make an appointment at 661-404-5209.
Here are some of their other services, in their own words:
"The Center offers its Gender Rebels group online. This group is an inclusive group for Trans, gender non-conforming and people without labels to share experiences and gain strength through community. The next rotation will start on July 9th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm for 8 weeks. Our second support workshop is our Bi/Pan+ Workshop which starts its 12th series this July 1st from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. This is a seven-week workshop for people who are bisexual, pansexual, queer or anyone who has ever been attracted to more than one gender. This group meets each Wednesday for 7 weeks to discuss and learn about many topics including Bi/Pan+ representation, self-care gender, navigating relationships as bi+, practice how to address stereotypes and discuss other issues specific to the Bi/Pan+ community. Email supportworkshops@thecenterbak.org to participate in either workshop.
"Our newest addition is a support group for BIPOCs to build community and have protected space in discussion. We will expand and provide renewed energy to upgrade our deep commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and commit to becoming an organization and community where BIPOC folx will feel valued, prioritized, and welcomed. The next group will take place on July 27th from 6-7:30pm. For more information, please email: BIPOCmeetup@thecenterbak.org.
Join us each week for virtual drop-in hours. Email virtualdropin@thecenterbak.org for more information!"
The earliest fashion photographs date back to the 1850s, corresponding to the birth of Vouge and Harper’s Bazaar. The defined aesthetic we recognize today, which simultaneously stimulate mass marketing and acts as an aesthetic guide affecting and reflecting contemporary culture, was refined during the interwar period. Notable photographers from the period, such as Horst P. Horst, Cecil Beaton, and George Hoyningen-Huene are often credited as definitive fathers for the genre. Each of these artists were queer identifying (publicly or privately), cementing the long-standing union of high fashion and queer culture.
Often fashion photography is composed with an overt feminine materiality which easily transitions into camp. The same way humor is central to facets of gay culture, especially in the celebration of gay femininity, camp is a device used to contain the damage of homophobic and transphobic mainstream culture. Early fashion photography dually represented hetero-normative femininity and queer or gay femininity, and this camp sensibility is often unreadable to a non-queer audience. “Birthday Gloves” by Horst P. Horst is currently on display at BMoA in the “Black and White” exhibition (on display through August 29, 2020) and is a testament to the unexpected elegance imbued in fashion photography which blurs traditional boundaries.
Born in Germany, Horst P. Horst was an international figure that worked mainly in Paris and New York. A master of light, composition and atmospheric illusion, Horst’s photographs graced the pages of Vogue and House and Garden in an extraordinary sixty-year career. Horst’s experimentations with radical composition, nudity, double exposures, and other avant-garde techniques would produce some of the most iconic fashion images ever. After living with Coco Chanel in New York in 1937, Horst met British diplomat Valentine Lawford (1911 – 1991) who would become Horst’s work and life partner until Lawford’s death. Both Horst and Lawford adopted and raised a son together, Richard J. Horst.
We hope you enjoyed our online Pride celebration! BMoA stands with the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities and we look forward to finding more ways to partner in the future. We believe our community and this museum should be reflective of all. Thank you to our past, present and future partners. We look forward to celebrating with you all next year!
Art After Dark is proudly sponsored by Moneywise Wealth Management, without their support this program would not be possible.
Thank you to past and present partners: The Center for Sexuality & Gender Diversity, Martin Narvaéz, Skyla Loveland, John Olivo, Jesús Martell González, LUVSPUN, Shaleah Moore, Cake It With Justin, Nick and James Aragon, Whitney Weddell, Moo Creamery, Tom of Finland Vodka, Ángela “Angel” Divina, Gavin Arechiga, Victor Gonzales, Webb Chappell Photography and California Rural Legal Assistance
More information coming soon.
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