‘The Queer Experience’ opens for a second year at the Steinberg Gallery

| Senior Scene Editor

Junior and exhibit co-curator Sophie Lin stands in the Steinberg Gallery showcasing “The Queer Experience.” (Sam Powers | Managing Photo Editor)

In the fall of 2023, junior Sophie Lin, along with juniors Chethan Chandra and Aspen Schisler, curated a collection of student artwork reflecting experiences of queer students at WashU. “I did this art show last year and people seemed really into it and I would really love to bring it back,” Lin recalled telling staff at the Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI).

Lin and the CDI partnered with the Sam Fox School this January to bring back the exhibit on a larger scale in the Steinberg Gallery. This year’s theme is “Intersections of Us,” and the exhibit will house many different types of art from students across WashU’s schools.

The idea for Lin’s gallery was prompted by another art show, “The Little Things”, in the Gephardt Institute during the spring of 2023. Lin submitted some of their poetry to the art show and was inspired by all of the student-made art on display. Seeing the display made Lin consider their own WashU community and the possibility of an event like this one.

“This is so cool. We should do an art show but specifically for queer WashU students,” Lin and their co-curators thought. “I thought it would be really, really cool for it to be an actual space with the word ‘gallery’ in the name,” they added.

They “wanted to see pieces that followed the theme” of “Intersections of Us” and “relate[d] to some aspect of queer experience,” but Lin and a faculty review committee embraced the open-endedness of the theme.

“I think it’s more powerful to have a varying range, like some people chose to focus on relationships and love and sex and some people chose to focus on family. Some people chose to focus on gender identity,” Lin said, expressing their admiration for all of the students’ artwork that will be displayed this year.

 Lin made sure to encourage first-time artists and non-Sam Fox students to submit artwork as well, specifying that they tried to recruit students from every school. In addition to the diversity of the artists represented, the exhibit will feature a wide variety of different art pieces, all melded together into a cohesive yet diverse and multisensory experience. It includes traditional oil paintings, sculptures, ceramics, textiles, poetry, and zines.

“I just felt kind of overwhelmed, honestly, that people had put so much work into all of this art”, Lin said.

Lin’s motivation is twofold — both empowering first-time artists and drawing attention to queer culture on campus.

“It’s important to have a space of community and expression for LGBTQ students here so that there’s this space that people can come together and share it,” they said.

“The Queer Experience” exhibit is especially relevant to Lin and other queer students because, as they put it, “[with] the political climate in Missouri and also this year being an election cycle, I think it’s at the top of our minds.” They hope that the artists’ and organizers’ hard work will help to build an “overall sense of solidarity among WashU students.”

This year, the exhibit’s opening reception features several speakers and live readings of some of the written works in the exhibit. The opening reception is Thursday, Jan. 16 at 5 p.m., and is open to all WashU students as well as other community members. The exhibit will remain open in the Steinberg Gallery until Monday, Jan. 20, and is free to all.

As for Lin, they hope that the exhibit will start to become an annual event for all on campus.

“Queerness is something that should be celebrated and should be something to be appreciated whether or not you belong to the LGBT community,” they said.

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