Queerida Atelier: Celebrating the Queer and Dear
By Alexa Kim
With June kicking off the beginning of Pride Month and in anticipation of our Annual Print Fair, Self Help Graphics & Art hosted a virtual panel conversation moderated by Dr. Karen Mary Davalos with artists from the Queerida Atelier: Dalila Paola Mendez, Cynthia Velasquez, Angélica Becerra, and Trenely “Clover” Garcia. SHG’s 58th atelier since the Professional Printmaking Program began in 1982, Queerida is a fusion of the words queer and querida, as the first queer Latina focused atelier whose works examine various facets of queer love and identity.
The atelier is composed of the four artist panelists, in addition to Pamela Chavez, who all come from diverse Latin American backgrounds and different geographies throughout California. In selecting the artists to participate, curator Dalila Paola Mendez shares that in her vision for the atelier, she aimed to showcase the diversity of these artists through their mediums, styles, techniques, and the messages that each of them conveys with their artistic practice. In speaking about each of their works, the artists touch upon the inspiration behind their prints, as well as the process (and challenges) that can come with the serigraph medium. While each artists’ work is stylistically different, the themes addressed in their pieces gracefully intersect and weave together to create the full body of work. Influenced by their family histories, physical and emotional environments, love and appreciation for the female body, each artists’ work is a testament and portrayal to their lived experiences as queer womxn of color.
We invite you to learn more about the Queerida Atelier and view the full panel conversation here. The Queerida Atelier will be debuted as a complete body of work for SHG’s Annual Print Fair on June 13, 2020, and the prints are found in our online shop.
Alexa Kim is Self Help Graphics & Art’s Program Manager, an art historian, and cat mom.