Brandon Straus (@brandon_straus)
Secondhand Love Spells
Video, 4:23 mins., 2021
 
This video is an abstract love story. I’m interested in the tender moments before the sex in vintage gay porn, the moments that give context to gay history, the moments that set up archetypes and tropes. To think about and relate to the actors from these films is to venerate and engage with the gay sex workers from the past; adult sites contain an accidental gay archive.
 
 
 

Aiesha Dhas (@aieshasart)

Crying Out

Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12", 2021

JUROR AWARD

I’ve had to keep my identity a secret from family in order to keep the peace. I’ve often cried out in hopes that one day I could BE out. This piece represents that repressed desire to let my true colors flow.
 
 
 

Zach Ozma (@zachozma)

Double-necked bottle (After Del LaGrace Volcano)

Stoneware, 11 x 6 x 3", 2021

 
 
 

Walter Francis Elling (@franciselling)

Painted Gay Pride Flag 1

Spray paint on Pride flag, 29 x 23", 2021

I am a queer identified bisexual Quaker man. I found high school very challenging due to being bullied. As a Queer artist I’m creating provocative art pieces focused on contemporary justice issues (race and queer liberation).
 
 
 

Pedro Zagitt (@corpusobscura)

Afrodiscope

Digital photograph on metal, 6 x 6", 2018

Honorable Mention Award

The entire Afrodiscope project is 100% homoerotic, an erotic kaleidoscope, aphrodisiac, a series of abstract and geometric images from parts of the bodies that I have captured with my lens.
 
 
 

Joe Klaus (@jklausart)

Tapestry: Bricks and Glass

Mixed media, 10 x 8", 2021

Within the framework of comfort and the frailty of memories I pull from energies of masculine and feminine, strength and sensuality, color and emotion to create a more interpretive form, within my tapestry of “remnants.”
 
 
 

Shirp (@shirpscastle)

Dreams of Citrine

Mixed media, 39.5 x 17 x 16.5", 2019

 
 
 

Claire Natale

JOY

Digital photograph, 10 x 8", 2021

Since college, I allowed myself to branch out more, making friends, becoming comfortable in my sexuality, exploring the city, creating art. My piece stems from my penchant to cover my mouth when smiling or laughing. Why do we have to apologize for feeling happiness?
 
 
 

Tannon A. Reckling (@foreclosedgaybar)

Untitled (almost perfect circle)

Digital image file, Dimensions variable, 2021

The image on this billboard is a drawn circle in gesture of lifelong activist David Buckel. It is meant to evoke hidden queer memories of trauma and solidarity, especially in non-urban sites of contemporary queerness. The billboard is placed in rural Nebraska, near Brandon Teena’s birthplace.
 
 
 
 
 

William Way LGBT Community Center

1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
P: 215-732-2220