Dakota Noot, “It’s a Painful Process”
opening: Saturday, June 1st, 6-9 pm
ace/121 Gallery and Roslin Art Gallery in collaboration with local chapters of Gay Straight Alliance in the Glendale Unified School District present
glendaleOUT
a multi-venue intergenerational LGBTQIA-based show that will do two things:
- Announce to Glendale its queer population exists, is visible, is viable, and is part of Glendale’s narrative.
- Share with Glendale and each other the stories of our coming out – either to ourselves, to our friends, to our families, in our schools, at our jobs, or any other way/place/moment we’ve arrived into our queer selves.
Coming out isn’t just an announcement. It’s a statement that we deserve public space and recognition. It’s the culmination of journey. For some this is an easy, funny, or celebrated event. For others, the journey goes from realization, to fear and dread, to considerations and options, and finally to proclamation. It’s a measuring of something about ourselves we fear is so primally unacceptable to some that it could end us, end everything we know as we know it — our parents’ love for us, the world’s response to us, our friends’ effort for us. It is the passage through fire and fear to self. Coming out is the moment we declare.
Some find ambivalence, others find their worst fears realized, still others discover love and celebration. We, LGBTQIA people, experience risk to live our lives as we are. When we take the risk of living self, we don’t know how claiming our identity publicly will affect us and those around us. This is the story of arriving at ourselves: the risk, freedom, and joy of Coming Out.
Associated Public Programs at ace/121 Gallery
- June 1st, 6-9 pm: Opening night with poetry reading by Paul Manchester
- June 13th, 6-9 pm: Closing night: 7:00 pm “Qreatures: The w(H)ole Story” – a special performance evening featuring Jason Jenn, The Boyfriend, and others
- June 15th, 3-5 pm: glendaleIN, an intergenerational conversation around themes of LGBTQ life in Glendale
- June 23rd, 6:00 pm: homo-centric, the LGBTQ reading series
For further related events, please visit www.ace121gallery.com as well as the ace/121 Facebook page. Follow @ace121gallery on Instagram for visual updates.
ace/121 Gallery
121 N. Kenwood Street – Glendale, CA
(entrance to Gallery via Louise and the YMCA parking lot)
