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Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: Pride: Identity and Disability
HEADLINE: Multimedia Exhibit Explores Intersections of Gender Identity and Disability
TEASER: Pride month activities returning to in-person events after COVID-19 lockdowns
PUBLISHED AT: 06/13/22 at 9:50am
BYLINE: Scott Stearns
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Denver
VIDEOGRAPHER: Scott Stearns
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE (S): All VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 3:04
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((Web Desk/TV producers: Please view this video to determine if the images contained in the package are appropriate for your audience."))
[[((INTRO:)) June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month. In the Western U.S. state of Colorado, multimedia artists are exploring the intersections of gender identity and disability. VOA Correspondent Scott Stearns has our story.]]
((NARRATOR))
In Denver, artists are looking beyond the social constructs of marriage to alternative visions of illness and devotion in an exhibition called “In Sickness and in Health.”
Co-curator Genevieve Waller’s “Chains of Love” combines the symbol of something strong with cellophane, a weak material.
((Genevieve Waller, Artist))
“What are these chains of love? What more besides marriage equality can we do to make the world more equitable for people who don’t want to get married, who can’t get married, who don’t believe in the institution of marriage?”
((NARRATOR))
Cherish Marquez imagines traditional folk medicine known as curanderismo transforming everyday objects to clean the earth of radiation poisoning.
((Cherish Marquez, Artist))
“Traditionally, curanderismo is used to heal the body, spirit, and the mind. As a queer person who comes from Latinx heritage, I found that some of the religious philosophies from Catholicism really didn’t fit and accept my identity. Curanderismo is a way to take back that culture and space.”
((NARRATOR))
The photographs of Meca’Ayo (me-KAH-eye-oh) Cole create bookmarks of places and emotions that ease feelings of being alone, even in a crowd.
((Meca’Ayo Cole, Artist))
It’s almost like a double-whammy for us, right? If we’re queer and we have a mental disability or mental health going on, and mental health is going to be affected because of those forces, however they are playing. We need to talk about it more, that’s all.”
((NARRATOR))
Co-curator Mary Grace Bernard is looking for audiences to find similar experiences, even if they don’t identify the same way.
((Mary Grace Bernard, Artist))
“My work, this body of work, is kind of like a private moment with me with all my medical equipment, something that you don’t see me as I am here now, but when I am at home, I’m attached to a lot of devices and have to do all these treatments and medications.”
((NARRATOR))
Jeff Rufus Byrd re-creates his 2017 stroke as a video game, because like people having a stroke, characters in video games do not control what is happening to them.
((Jeff Rufus Byrd, Artist))
“The idea of queerness itself is not always something that’s entirely associated with sexuality. It’s sometimes used in a context of someone who just has very unusual life circumstances or something that’s a bit outside the norm perhaps.”
((NARRATOR))
Waller says gender identity and disability often pass unnoticed.
((Genevieve Waller, Artist))
"Queerness and disability, often people require a performance of it in order to take it seriously. So unless you are wearing a rainbow or are in a wheelchair or what have you, sometimes people don’t want to believe you when you say you are gay, you are disabled."
((NARRATOR))
The show is part of Pride month activities that return to in-person events for the first time since coronavirus lockdowns.
Scott Stearns, VOA News, Denver
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateJune 13, 2022 10:12 EDT
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
