CHICAGO – Groups and organizations often rely on the talents of individuals to encourage participation, education, growth and camaraderie, and a new exhibit opening at the Leather Archives & Museum seeks to unearth the contributions made to Chicagoland area BDSM/leather/kink/fetish communities by people of color. Excavating Experience: The Presence of LGBTQ People of Color in Cook County, IL is a multi-media exhibit which opens Saturday July 2nd at the LA&M in Rogers Park, with an opening reception being held in the museum’s gallery from 5 PM to 7:30 PM.
Excavating Experience draws upon materials from the museum’s archival holdings, as well as images, artifacts, ephemera and oral histories donated by people of color within Cook County’s BDSM/leather/fetish/kink communities specifically for this exhibit. Focusing mainly on participation by people of color in clubs, events and organizations, the LA&M exhibit’s goal is to both inspire and to encourage participation.
“This exhibition will serve as a small glimpse into the myriad ways LGBTQ people of color have contributed to the leather community in Cook County,” says Alisa Swindell, curator of the Excavating Experience exhibit. “From forming organizations to being representatives as titleholders to the mere fact of being present, these people have helped to make this community what it is.”
Full story at The Illinois Eagle.
