Queer|Art Will Award $10,000 to a Black Trans Femme Artist
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Loading... - Eline Aadrens
- 11 Apr 2022
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Applications for the Queer|Art Illuminations Grant, a $10,000 annual award given to a Black trans woman or trans femme visual artist, are open through June 12. This is the grant’s third year.
Queer|Art is a New York nonprofit founded in 2009 to “support a generation of LGBTQ+ artists that lost mentors to the AIDS Crisis of the 1980s,” according to the organization’s website. In addition to giving a variety of awards, Queer|Art provides a year-long mentorship program and holds events like exhibitions, film screenings, performances, and panel discussions that highlight the work of LGBTQ+ artists.
“The Illuminations Grant not only highlights the lacking representation of Black trans women in the visual arts but also seeks to confront the systemic barriers that deny them artistic opportunities and a sustainable craft,” said Aaryn Lang in a statement. Lang, a vocal champion of the Black transgender community, helped develop the Illuminations Grant alongside artist Serena Jara and the grant’s funder, photographer Mariette Pathy Allen.
In 2020, Brooklyn-based artist Keioui Keijaun received the Illuminations Grant and last year, New Orleans-based artist Lee Laa Ray Giullory won the award. Giullory uses meticulously staged and altered photography to explore Black mysticism and Black femme identities in rural Louisiana. Read More...
