The Philadelphia Queer Elders Project
Friday, November 1, 2019 – Sunday, December 15, 2019
Curated by Anna Pachner and Katie Rauth
Presented in The Front Space
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The Philadelphia Queer Elders Project, an archival exhibition and series of programming curated by Anna Pachner and Katie Rauth, aims to celebrate elders’ position in the queer community, highlighting threads of second-wave, lesbian-feminist history and how they translate into contemporary queer thought and space. Stemming from a box of lesbian-centered zines from the 1970s through 1990s found on a roadside in Burlington, VT, and Pachner’s archival Instagram account @boxofvintagegayzines that followed, the project presents excerpts of these publications that provide an in-depth look at snapshots of queer lives as told through nationally, regionally and locally circulated writing.
The archival aspect of the exhibition will be supplemented with extensive programming and collaboration with other Philadelphia artists and community organizers in an ongoing series of ancillary events that celebrate queer elders and build intergenerational queer community. Community partners include the John C. Anderson Apartments, writers’ nonprofit Blue Stoop, and West Philadelphia queer community chorus Trust Your Moves.
ASSOCIATED EVENTS
Sunday 11/3, 3-6pm: PQEP Reception The Philadelphia Queer Elders Projects invites LGBTQA community members to celebrate intergenerational connections and find out more about upcoming events included in the scope of the project. Trust Your Moves, a West Philadelphia community chorus, will join us for a short performance at 4pm.
Thursday 11/14, 6:30-9pm: Archival Dive with Berry Grass & Blue Stoop: In this workshop you’ll be guided through a writing exercise asking you to respond creatively–construct & deconstruct, shape and reshape–writing from an archive of 1970s-1990s lesbian and queer zines, in order to position your voice in dialogue with the voices of your sisters and siblings writing in that time period, as well as within your contemporary community. Come work on your writing with an intergenerational group of lesbian, bisexual, genderqueer, and nonbinary writers and connect with your community history.
EXHIBITION CREDIT
This exhibition and its ancillary programming are part of the City of Philadelphia’s Arts in Action initiative managed by the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.
