Local queer students receive national awards for art, writing
The fifth picture in the photo essay “Anything But Simple” shows a school hallway with gray lockers lit up by sunlight shining through ceiling-length windows and two bodies tightly embracing.
One, with large hairy arms, holds the other, draped in a maroon hoodie with a sign that says “faggot” stuck to its back. The photo essay, curated by Spencer Strebe, was part of a legion of portfolios honored by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for their poignant and intelligent exploration of young identity.
Strebe, 18, received a silver medal with distinction for his work that explored the rugged terrain that is navigating queer relationships as a teenager fresh into understanding their sexuality.
He was a student at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Va., and will attend Virginia Commonwealth University in the fall to study art. “I wasn’t out as gay dating my first boyfriend,” read his artist statement. “The frustration of keeping their love secret…led the guy in the gray hoodie [to] out his partner as gay in a desperate effort to make their love known.
