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Teen-curated show in Manila focuses on queer identity
An exhibit focusing on queer identity and LGBTQ+ representation will open on Escolta Street in Manila on Saturday, May 5—and its curator isn't even out of high school yet.
"I feel a lot of the frustration and angst among LGBTQ+ youth stems from a lack of queer representation in mass media, and even when queer identity is considered, we're too often caricatured and politicized in the process," says Marco Llanes, the 14-year-old behind "I," an art and photography exhibit that aims to address the underrepresentation and dehumanization of the LGBTQ+ community in mass media.
This treatment of LGBTQ+ people, he says in a statement, "impedes us from seeing and valuing ourselves equally as people, beyond the constant comedies and tragedies mass media tends to typecast us in. I wanted to say something about it, and to weigh in on the issue."
The artists whose works are presented in Llanes' exhibit include Ellie Fung, a 23-year-old photographer from Brooklyn; Josizl, a 19-year-old animation student from Sydney; Jose Tong/Ai Hoseki, an architect, visual artist, and drag queen; Miguel Lope Inumerable, who uses data science to create art; Gabriel Villegas, visual artist, café owner, and neighborhood instigator; retired photojournalist Jose Enrique Soriano; and Marco’s twin brother, Mateo Llanes, who works with pen and ink.
Llanes stresses that he is not an authority on the subject—merely a young person whose generation is deluged with often contradicting information of what it means to be queer.
"What we’re faced with leaves us with more issues, both internally and externally," he says. "And this inevitably affects how we relate to ourselves and to other people. I come from a personal perspective that may not be broad because of my age, but I feel this conversation has to start, and I decided to take it on using this project."
Llanes put together the exhibit after consulting artist and curator Marika Constantino of 98B COLLABoratory (98B). "She taught me to have faith and confidence in expressing ideas and opinions that have always felt so overwhelmingly personal and important to me," he says.
"She also helped me teach myself new and different angles to approach my thoughts, and just put them out there as possibilities that I never would've thought of in the beginning."
— BM, GMA News
“I” is part of 98B’s ESC PlayGround and hosted by HUB | Make Lab. It will be on exhibit for a month at the First United Building, 413 Escolta Street, Manila.
Opening reception is on May 5 at 6:30 p.m.
For inquiries, email blcmanila@blendedlearningcenterph.com or visit Blended Learning Center's website or Facebook page.
