Portrait of Mes and Yous was created by and for lesbians as an embrace of the breadth of the queer experience and how gender + sexuality operates within and alongside a person. Embracing that fascinating moment of grammatical confusion when faced with the words “I am lesbian” instead of “I am a lesbian”, I wanted to explore and embrace the dichotomous awkwardness and silliness of intentionally employing lesbian as a condition, state of being, and/or a continuous action. Ruminating on the artistic iconography and fibers movements of the AIDS era, I included adverbs provided to me by an inquiry to other lesbians in my life, creating a piece teeming with familiarity and queer longing. 

As a blooming queer person, I wanted to make a tangible work that could be related to not only by the lesbians I know and love, but to the broader queer community as well; what are your experiences with identity? How do you live, work, and love with it? Is it possible to reduce something as infinite as experience to just one adverb?

Rae is a second-year undergraduate student studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As of late, he has been interested in investigating relationships between art and the audience, cross-sections of fibers, sculpture, painting, alternate forms of research, and community care.