Center Blog

Guest Post by: Wils Cain

The opening reception for Surveying the Immigrant Experience on April 27 provided all of those in attendance an opportunity to dig deeper into the diversity of the LGBT community, specifically art by immigrants that now call New York City home. The exhibition, running through September 1, showcases the art of 20 artists, which when shown as a group illustrates the wide range of backgrounds within the LGBT community. Diversity is the underlying theme of this show; in the regions the artists were born, their journeys to New York City, the medium of their work, and the messages they deliver.

The artists’ work is spread throughout the second floor of the Center with gilded world maps by Gilbert Baker, designer of the Rainbow Flag in 1978, leading the way from one region of an artist’s origin to another. Circumnavigating the globe this way it is easy to see the immense geographical range the show provides, with artists from Canada, China, Columbia, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Israel, The Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, United States and Venezuela.

The show’s diversity is interwoven into the subject matter, the race and ethnicity of those depicted, style of dress, as well as  the mediums used themselves, including video, photography, oil and acrylic paintings, digital prints, answering machine recordings, found objects, spoken word and rap.

A highlight of the evening was the presence of so many artists standing by their work mingling with the crowd and talking about their work and experiences.

This show is important for the LGBT Center as it shows how much we have to learn from each other’s experiences.  It is important for us to seek out and learn more from one another and to share our own, and others, stories so we learn from them as well. Surveying the Immigrant Experience allows us to look closer at a segment of our community – immigrant artists, telling us their stories, all of whom just happen to be part of the LGBT community.