‘To Russia with Love’ Project
QUEER BASHINGS IN RUSSIA / WTF / WHAT DO YOU THINK?
ONGOING ONLINE EXHIBITION / CALL-OUT TO ARTISTS & ART LOVERS
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REQUIREMENTS:
– submit one jpg at 72 dpi of an artwork you already have, that depicts you’re thoughts on this crisis
– include title, medium, dimensions, date. NO PRICE.
– no deadline
– one work only
– this is an online exhibit ONLY. No need to ship to the gallery
– your website (self-promo)
– these are not for sale. If you choose to do so, at your discretion.
– open to everyone. Email to guy@guyberube.com
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LPM Gallery is looking to spark dialogue and bridge connection from around the world in light of the recent implementation of Russia’s anti-gay policies. Even through the vast social diversities and asymmetries of the worldwide LGBTQIA, we can develop a solidarity model built on expectations of equal treatment and mutual respect among all citizens and governments.
LPM Gallery wants to know: How do you feel about these issues? What do you have to say?
We are asking for your voice and visibility in an act of solidarity.
LPM Gallery will be mounting an online-only exhibition to chronicle these intersecting experiences and perspectives. The international call out for images is open to all. We ask that the submission reflects or reacts on these issues with honesty. The works can be old or new, sold, in collection, or available. Submissions must include artist name, title, medium, dimensions and date created. Artists can choose to include their website link that will appear on the page.
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To what point do thousands of silenced voices and invisible bodies resonate across borders and translate into action? How can we trace the lines of politics and art as to intersect into thoughtful and productive social action?
Art is always political. And it is always our choice to what degree it is treated as such.
Today, how art’s forms and messages are shaped across divided social climates remains critical. The outcries of injustice are continually silenced and held in the chambers of imprisoned and violated bodies. We must seek out and occupy the spaces in which to take back the right of speech, activism, and visibility – in life and art.
Recent laws calling for the punishment and imprisonment of LGBT individuals in Russia recall dark historical moments of attempted erasure of easily targeted minorities. The translation of Russia’s anti-gay laws into upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi reflects back all too clearly onto the events leading and following the 1936 games in Berlin and the correlative Nazi persecution of Jews, blacks, homosexuals, “degenerates”, et al.
This issue not only applies to the safety of the visiting athletes and spectators, but also centers on those LGBT persons and groups who will continue to be affected after the world-spectacle passes. The fight for a communal LGBT visibility and personally felt struggles for acceptance have been long had throughout history. In seeing the life-effect of these self-congratulatory, hyper masculinist narratives with their adjacent regressive political maneuvers -currently being administered by the Russian government and others we refuse love and acceptance – demands that we band together in solidarity in search of a brighter future.
Written by Adam Barbu