Celebrate the opening of a truly community-based exhibition featuring original poetry and artwork by queer and trans Bay Area BIPOC artists along with treasures from the Hormel LGBTQIA archives. Co-curators Tina Bartolome and Natalia M. Vigil invite you to bring to life the artistic conversations revealed in this transcendent exhibition. Doors open at 3:45pm. Book giveaways, readings by the contributing artists and more surprises await.
This opening reception inaugurates the accompanying exhibit: I Still Love You: Queerness, Ancestors and the Places That Made Us on display March 18–June 29, 2023 in the Hormel LGBTQIA Center on the 3rd floor of the Main Library.
This exhibit is a partnership between the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, Queer Ancestors Project (QAP) and Still Here San Francisco (SHSF). QAP is devoted to forging sturdy relationships between LGBTQI people and our ancestors. SHSF is an intergenerational cultural preservation project amplifying the voices and creativity of LGBTQ2S+ Black, Indigenous and People of Color raised in San Francisco.
Tina Bartolome was born and raised in San Francisco, the daughter of working-class immigrants from the Philippines and Switzerland. Somewhere between coming out, facing eviction, writing on walls and fighting racist propositions, she joined the movement and never looked back. Bartolome is a storyteller and social justice educator striving to continue the legacies of Paulo Freire, June Jordan and other freedom fighters who show us the way. Her writing can be found in Black Power Afterlives: The Enduring Significance of the Black Panther Party and Still Here: An Anthology of Queer and Trans People Raised in San Francisco.
Natalia M. Vigil is a queer Xicana writer with native heritage, a multimedia curator and big sister of six, born and raised in San Francisco. Vigil is an arts administrator passionate about community-driven creativity and cultural preservation through artist sustainability. Vigil is the co-founder of Still Here San Francisco for which she was honored as a Local Hero by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.