THE INVISIBLE HISTORIES:

See Glitter in All Black Everywhere: Archiving Southern Queer Histories 

A DISRUPTION BY JACKIE CLAY & BO MCGUIRE

Guest Curator Jackie Clay and Artist/Filmaker Bo McGuire are diving into the The Invisible Histories Project repository of queer southern history. This exhibition pulls from the ephemera and material cultures of bars, dives, ballrooms and living rooms — all the safe spaces for diverse identities living in unsafe times and geographies. In partnership with the Invisible Histories Project (IHP), Bo and Jackie are extracting hidden histories and themes within the archive, and intervening in a hope to bring visibility and recognition to the spaces created for and by southern queer folk of all stripes. 

Jackie Clay is the executive director at the Coleman Center for the Arts, a contemporary arts non-profit in rural West Alabama. She is a writer and curator. A graduate from California College of the Arts with dual-interdisciplinary degrees, her intellectual practice centers on black visual culture. An Alabama native, she believes art and art institutions should service their publics and organizations should encourage or sustain collective community health.

Bo Mcquire Bio: I was born the queer son of a Waffle House cook and his third-shift waitress in Hokes Bluff, Alabama. The first movie I truly fell for was the music video for Reba McEntire’s Fancy. Mama named me Ashley after Gone With the Wind and Boles is a paternal family name, but despite all that ritual I’ve always been just Bo.

IHP is an archive committed to the preservation of the history of LGBTQ life first in the state of Alabama and then the entire Southeast.  The archive preserves, collects, and protects the living history of the diversity of the Queer community–both urban and rural in the Deep South.

COVID-19 PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES: 

To protect staff and patrons alike, Alabama Contemporary requires a mask and social distancing in the galleries. We’ve also amended our hours, are waiving admission, and placing limits on capacity. For more information on our COVID-19 opening policy go here. We encourage everyone to be safe and socially conscious as we all learn to move forward through this together.

OPENING RECEPTION: July 9, 2021

Generous funding for this exhibition and related programming is provided by: