In college, artist Joshua Gutierrez said he originally wanted to major in environmental studies and chemistry until he soon realized his passion was far from science.
Today, Gutierrez is a photographer and ASU Master of Fine Arts student. He debuted his thesis exhibition called, ‘Seeing Being Seen’ Friday downtown at the Northlight Gallery.
The exhibition featured a collection of his photographs and other artistic installations focusing on the topic of signaling, or using some sort of object or signal to subtley indicate sexuality. It has been used historically as a form of communication in the LGBTQ community.
The portraits combined a historic and contemporary form of signaling. Each encapsulated the language and self-expression of the LGBTQ community, specifically through the use of the green carnation flower.
The carnation is a tribute to Oscar Wilde, the Irish playwright and poet who was imprisoned for his sexuality.
“He wore it on the buttonhole of his lapel,” Gutierrez said. “There wasn’t recognition of other sexualities and identities within queerness to subvert a system of oppression—it was a way to signal their sexuality and find each other.”
The 19th-century green carnation symbol has made its way to the present time, according to Gutierrez who found the symbol as an emoji on the social app, Grindr.
“There was this elasticity of history, where it has this 19th-century precedence but then became super, super contemporary,” said Gutierrez.
All of the photographs in the exhibit capture a person or couple standing together with an earnest look on their faces, either holding or wearing a green carnation.
“I think that’s my attempt at really kind of trying to view the person that I’m photographing with strength or dignity,” Gutierrez said. “At the end of the day, I want them to look really bold and strong in their queerness.”
Gutierrez found his subjects on Instagram. He considered using the social medium and its tools as a way of thinking about contemporary signaling devices in the LGBTQ ccommunity
By searching through popular queer related hashtags within the region, he was able to garner different representatives from the LGBTQ community to narrate his message.
Queer couple Nick and Trent Herring-Harmon, who Gutierrez reached out to on Instagram and photographed, attended the exhibit on Friday to see their portrait displayed.
“We regard ourselves highly in our relationship together. When we go out we just know that people are seeing us and were representing a bigger culture without asking for that,” Nick Herring- Harmon said.
Trent Herring-Harmon, added he felt the significance of the exhibition can be seen through the struggles queer people face today. He considered the showcase an educational experience for everyone.
“Taking the history of the queer identity and bringing it to present day,” he said. “Some of those fights we’re still fighting. You see that we’re proud, we are who we are—this is us.”
Gutierrez said the inspiration behind his photos stemmed from a few things; feeling disconnected in the Phoenix queer community, the 2016 presidential election and the social injustices occurring around the world to members of the LGBTQ community.
“Gay purges in Chechnya, which first started against gay men and has now expanded out to other members of the queer community,” he said. “Stoning is now legal in Brunei. Those kinds of things, I think about as I’m working through things.”
The exhibition was filled with family, friends, peers, and members of the LGBTQ community. Gutierrez said he hopes that the message they can take away from the exhibit is one of growth and unity.
“With queer history, it’s like a sticky object where as we move to the future we kind of have to acknowledge where it is that we’ve come from to continue forward,” Gutierrez said.
Contact the reporter at atpulu@asu.edu.
