For my campus commentary, I visited the Davidson Visual Arts Centre on 26/2/24, specifically Erika Diamond’s #SayGay exhibition. Physically, this exhibition featured several physical objects, being a pile of LGBTQ books banned for their content, and a backpack, quilt, provided a distorted reflection. The backpack was the first item that was visible to an audience, and was a reflective grey. Diamond noted that “the backpack in #SayGay was meant to be a safe space in schools where proposed legislation seeks to erase queer existence”. This threat of legislation is developed further within the installation by Diamond choosing to also add the books as an element of her piece, by showing the direct result of these laws and the effect on LGBTQ youth.
Next was the jacket, which Diamond named the (In)Visibility Hoodie. It was also reflective, but tinted yellow as opposed to grey. On the inside, it was iridescent with horizontal rainbow stripes and there was a white sweater underneath. This artifact uses the attributes that the jacket has to critique the challenges that LGBTQ individuals encounter. An example could be found in that this piece captures the perceived “safety” of being not out. In addition to this, with the name (In)Visibility Hoodie, Diamond also captures the “visibility” with the ostentatious material, which represents the feeling of being “singled-out” for LGBTQ youth. It could also be interpreted in the sense that donning the hoodie is the action of coming out, which applies the distinguishing colour. The sweater visible underneath the hoodie and the rainbow pattern could signify the safety acquired from being out and amongst other LGBTQ individuals.
The third piece in the collection was named 40% NC Quilt. This was the newest installation and a quilt based on the specific North Carolinian quilt block, with added “pink house” patterns. The origin of the name is derived from the statistic that 40% of youth experiencing housing insecurity identified themselves to be LGBTQIA+. The other side of the quilt is a soft fabric with repeating rainbow icons. The inclusion of another side further assists Diamond’s intention of bringing awareness to queer safety. Instead of having the quilt pattern be the key feature of this piece, Diamond created a 3d piece that also reflects the importance of safe spaces for queer youth as well as critiquing anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation.
In working with this medium of art, Erika Diamond discussed politics about LGBTQIA+ youth and safety. The property of being three-dimensional allows these three pieces to address the complex situations that LGBTQIA youth are placed into, and each piece having a bisectionality approaches the idea of challenges that LGBTQIA+ youth encounter, between hostility and acceptance.
