With June’s LGBTTTI Pride Month well underway, The News attended the Crisol de Masculinidades exhibition at Galería Jose Mariá Velasco part of the Festival Internacional por la Diversidad Sexual.
With almost 70 pieces of artwork, the exhibition covers a small part of gay culture in Mexico, aiming to break down the stereotypes that surround gay identity and offer a new insight into the LGBTQ community. In offering this realistic insight, curators stated that they hope it will play a part in building a society accepting and inclusive of every sexual orientation.
Included among the works are large walls of text that explain the evolution of terms and symbols throughout LGBTQ history in the country, as well as pieces showing the rights movement here.
Crisol de Masculinidades opens with a look at the idea of “Osos” (bears) and its separation with the “Chubby” subculture. While bears are gay men who exemplify classic masculine ideals, Chubbys are more curvaceous.
This iconic image of true manliness in Mexican culture has been idealized for centuries, through literature, music and film, and it is an image that has been used by the gay community in Mexico to show that images of machismo toughness are not defined by sexuality alone.
Billy Hunter’s photographs of the Vaqueros de Central de México and the rights group, El Madriguera, are testament to the bravery and persistence of men who demand to be recognized as any other.
Crisol de Masculinidades includes work by Alfredo Matus and Jorge David Jaramillo Velázquez, and is open until July 2. Entrance is free.
For information about Crisol de Masculinidades, click here.
Another art exhibition currently showing at the Centro Cultural José Martí. Running until July 1, this unnamed exhibition contains works to be bought and admired. Located to the side of Alameda Central, this is a small but interesting venue.
