By Roman Contreras
Staff Writer
San Jose State’s PRIDE Center debuted its new series, QuArtz, on Feb. 7.
QuArtz, or Queer Arts Talk Series, aims to provide a safe space for students to showcase and discuss their queer-related art that helps shape and identify who they are.
The talk began with resistance-art guest speaker Juan Carlos Rodriguez, a lecturer from Puerto Rico. He was visiting the Bay Area to teach at the California College of the Arts in Oakland.
“Every time I talk, especially when it’s for people I don’t know, I want them to see there’s a possibility of creating art that actually challenges what it means to be a human being today,” said Rodriguez.
For Rodriguez, debuting his queer-inspired statement art is a big moment.
“You have this precious thing you have been talking about but you haven’t presented to a new group of people, so it makes me a little bit anxious but it’s really exciting,” he said.
The message Rodriguez aims to send is to use creativity to fight for people’s right to be who they are.
“I mainly work thinking about the Latinx community,” Rodriguez said.
“So everything I create is to talk to the Latinx diaspora in the U.S. and for us to start creating in order to protect our culture and create a movement of resistance to colonization.”
Art senior Calvin Lee said he is thankful for QuArtz.
“It’s a community that I wasn’t able to find until now and it’s a very safe space for me,” Lee said. Through his art, Lee wants to tell the Western world what it’s like to be queer in Asian countries.
“I want my art to inform the Western world about the unknown general Asian homophobia and misogyny and ignorance,” said Lee.
Lark Alder, digital media art lecturer and PRIDE Center faculty fellow, is the mastermind behind QuArtz.
“It’s hard as someone who teaches art to feel like it’s not possible to cultivate that space in classrooms,” Alder said. “So thinking about how we as a university can create space, where people can share their work amongst peers, is how this seed was planted.”
Alder also discussed her own art and the places she finds inspiration.
“I have always found inspiration from the queer community, and that is the place where I feel my artistic practice lives and is kindled by that energy,” she said.
Technical writing senior Jessica Rebrukh said the QuArtz series has done its job of creating a safe space for artists to be free.
“[QuArtz] means that I can be in a space where I can really talk about my identity and the intent behind my artwork without fear of being judged,” said Rebrukh. “I want my artwork to inspire and showcase that people aren’t alone out there and people are making content you can identify with.”
For the future of the series, Alder hopes to see it become something healthy for queer individuals.
“We’re going to have monthly talks starting spring and hopefully it will grow into something long-standing and student-run,” said Alder.
