An Intersectional Art Gallery

On Thursday evening, USGA’s intersectionality committee hosted an art show showcasing different identities and illustrating the intersection of these identities in our community. The Intersectionality chair Thea Manning-Neal is bisexual and Indigenous; the pride and importance she feels for both of these identities was the inspiration for this art show. Our fellow local queer group Raynbow Collective brought some of their art collection, and we are so grateful to them for lending us some beautiful pieces of art! I took pictures of some of my favorites, but my iPhone XR can’t possibly do those pieces justice. However, they still deserve to be shown off and immortalized on this blog as many of the pieces depict the experience of queer people of color.

Intersectionality is extremely important because it’s about understanding that everyone’s experience is different and that some of us have more privilege and representation than others. I can walk into an art gallery and almost definitely find art that paints my experience, because white artists are painting it. As a queer white woman, I know what it’s like to not be represented in my queer identity which grants me a little bit of understanding into oppression, but my white privilege grants me the responsibility to step back and let others share their experiences. All of this is to say that we are always needing to push for more bipoc representation, literally at every opportunity. I share my own experience so it becomes more clear as to why the intersectionality committee is so important to me and to USGA’s mission as a queer organization in Utah Valley.