Pride Panel: Cultivating Connections Through Queer Art and Performance
Join us for a Pride panel discussion and artist activations! Local queer artists will come together for a conversation around their unique artistic practices and how they intertwine with their LGBTQIA+ and other identities. The discussion will be followed by activations from the artists.
Featured panelists: Kehayr Brown-Ransaw, Trista Marie McGovern, Julia Starr
Event moderated by: Juleana Enright
About Juleana Enright
Juleana Enright (they/them) is an Indigenous, queer, non-binary writer, curator, sound and theatre artist living in Minneapolis. They are an enrolled member of the Lower Brule Lakota Tribe. Juleana is the Gallery and Programs Coordinator at All My Relations Arts and a current writers fellow for MnArtists. Their past roles have included Culture Editor for l’étoile magazine and Communications Specialist for Gamut Gallery. They have contributed to local platforms, Pride Magazine, mplsart, Primer and City Pages. As an independent curator, Juleana has curated four art exhibitions and was a recipient of the Emerging Curators Institute 2020-21 Fellowship program. Through their practice, Juleana strives to examine the act of daily creation in the midst of great chaos and explore what it means to be a contemporary 2spirit artist with a focus on Indigenous Futurism through art and performance.
About Kehayr Brown-Ransaw
Photo Courtesy of Rik Sferra.
Kehayr Brown-Ransaw (he/him/his) is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and curator. His current practice uses fiber, an archive of family photographs, and legal ledgers to explore spatial and familial memory that engages in conversations of familial histories, gendered work, self/government documentation, and Black identity through quilting and printmaking. Brown-Ransaw’s curatorial and teaching practices center on access, representation, and the presentation of marginalized communities.
Brown-Ransaw received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Furniture Design from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has exhibited work across the Twin Cities, with public works on view at Franconia Sculpture. He has received a 2023 Center for Craft Curatorial Fellowship, 2020/21 Emerging Curators Institute (ECI) Emerging Curator Fellowship, 2020/21 Jerome Early Career Fellowship, 2021 Franconia Sculpture Park Artist Fellowship Residency, and 2021 Minnesota African American Heritage Museum & Gallery Artist in Residency. He is the recipient of a FY2021 State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals grant, a 2020 Visual Arts Fund Community Relief Grant from Midway Contemporary Art on behalf of The People’s Library, and the FY2020 Next Step Fund Award from the Metro Regional Arts Council.
About Trista McGovern
Photo Courtesy of David Sherman.
Trista Marie McGovern (she/they) is a queer disabled photographer, writer, model, and interdisciplinary artist. Her work is fueled by exploring human story and personal identity. She is an advocate for disability issues and ableism awareness through personal and collaborative projects, with a strong focus on sexuality. She is driven by social justice values and involvement including environmental, racial, disability, and transformative justice and police abolition. Her work in intimate portraits as a photographer focuses on breaking down barriers to illuminate vulnerability and individual personalities. Her driving force for making and the intent of her artwork and advocacy practice is to cultivate joy and foster connectedness with each other and within ourselves.
About Julia Starr
Julia Starr (they/them) is a Filipinx Drag Performer and fashion designer who resides in Minneapolis. They have entertained audiences for 11 years with high-energy and high-fashion performances. Julia creates and sews all of their own costumes from raw fabrics and is inspired by mixing their Filipino culture with high fashion concepts.