Free to Be
Theaterworks
Hartford
August 13, 2024
The celebration of drag culture continues at Theaterworks with the opening of the exhibit Free to Be in the gallery space on the first floor of the building.
The exhibit features six Connecticut-based LGBTQ+ artists who were asked to explore the theme, “freedom of artistic expression.” The artists were given a color of the rainbow to utilize. The result is some truly breathtaking artwork, beautiful and thought-provoking.
Jaii Marc Renee’s Naranja Blossom was the first piece that caught my eye. The position of the orange flowers over the eyes of the person evokes both a sense of beauty and horror simultaneously. The idea of flowers overtaking a person’s face is reminiscent of the clickers from the videogame and HBO series The Last Of Us, where a virulent fungus has taken over the human body and replaced most of the victim’s face. While Renee’s artwork is far more visually appealing than the horribly scarred appearance of clickers, there is still something fearsome about the human body being made subservient to plant life.
On the other end of the spectrum (figuratively speaking, of course) is Life is a performance and the lights are blinding by Adis Halilovic. The piece is a straightforward display of lights shining from a central point on the horizon. The painting seems to be saying two different things, depending on which color the viewer perceives as the dominant rays of light.
In my initial viewing, I saw the pink light as the main focus of the artwork, enveloping the piece in a warm light that represented love and compassion for queens seeking the spotlight in their journeys.
After looking at the rest of the gallery, I came back again and saw the piece differently. This time, the red light stood out to me, like angry beams blasting outward towards a world that can be cruel in its treatment of people who are different. Instead of a loving embrace, the artwork began to look like a warning: accept who we are, or suffer the consequences.
My favorite piece of the exhibition is Mambukkale, by Ricardo Gutierrez. He takes the color blue, and instead of leaning into the melancholic qualities of the shade, he instead creates a piece that is celebratory of drag and its ornate stylings. The most striking aspect of the piece are Mambukkale’s eyes, which stare straight back at the viewer with ferocity and confidence. The globes around the queen’s face also look like eyes, although more circular than the almond shaped and contoured eyes on her face. The large eye behind Mambukkale serves as a portal into the world of drag, where participants find strength in the expression of femininity and beauty. Mambukkale is not a real person, but the skill which Gutierrez used to evoke her on the canvas gives her a life that rivals any flesh and blood person.
All of the artwork came with placards which explained what the artists intended to say with their pieces, but if you want to know that, you’ll have to go yourself to Theaterworks. There are other great pieces there that deserve your attention as well.
NEXT
Free to Be continues at Theaterworks through Sept. 13.
Jamil heads to Bushnell Park for one of the last concerts of summer.
