Mariette Pathy Allen and Culture Lab LIC announce Pride exhibitions
Breaking Boundaries: 50 Years of Images will highlight the work of groundbreaking gender-expansive photographer Mariette Pathy Allen.
This group exhibition relating to trailblazing photographer Allen includes invited artists Zackary Drucker and Jess T. Dugan and features portraits that echo the representation of gender expansive folx in everyday life found in Allen’s work.
Mariette Pathy Allen has been photographing the transgender community for almost 50 years. Through her artistic practice, she has been a pioneering force in gender consciousness, contributing to numerous cultural and academic publications about gender variance and lecturing worldwide. From June 1 to July 30 (opening on the evening of June 3 from 6-9pm), Culture Lab LIC will celebrate Mariette’s work with the exhibition Breaking Boundaries: 50 Years of Images alongside another exhibition with work by other artists inspired by, or in the spirit of, Mariette’s work titled Breaking More Boundaries. The latter will feature invited artists Zackary Drucker and Jess T. Dugan.
These exhibitions are part of Culture Lab LIC’s celebration of Pride Month and are curated by Orestes Gonzalez and Jesse Egner.
Most of the photographs featured in Breaking Boundaries: 50 Years of Images were made in the US. Also included within the exhibit is a section on transgender women in Cuba and Spirit Mediums (who may be women, gay men, transgender, or non-binary) in Burma and Thailand.
Books by Mariette Pathy Allen and several of the other artists will be available for purchase at the opening and throughout the exhibition.
Mariette Pathy Allen says: “The importance of this exhibition in this retrograde, evil political climate, can’t be exaggerated. We hope that by presenting transgender and non-binary people as relatable, caring, and creative, we can help to dispel the misinformation and fear of gender and sexual non-conforming people. I am very grateful to the Culture Lab LIC’s Plaxall Gallery for giving me the opportunity to have this retrospective of some of my work on gender variance.
At the suggestion of Culture Lab LIC, Orestes Gonzalez, Jesse Egner, and I embarked on creating an Open Call to find other artists doing work that relates in some way to my long-term travels with gender-expansive people. I began to form this exhibition by inviting two young and highly-accomplished artists, Zackary Drucker and Jess T. Dugan, whose portraiture of strong, courageous people reminded me of some of the heroic people I photographed over the years who led the way to greater freedom of expression. I feel these artists’ love for the people they photograph is similar to mine. Orestes, Jesse, and I are waiting excitedly to see what treasures the open call brings!”
Follow the work of the artists and the exhibition online:
Mariette Pathy Allen: Official Site / Instagram
Culture Lab LIC: Official Site / Instagram
Jess T. Dugan: Official Site / Instagram
Zackary Drucker: Official Site / Instagram
Orestes Gonzalez: Official Site / Instagram
Jesse Egner: Official Site / Instagram
