This Latinx non-binary artist is honoring their LGBTQ+ ancestors with a sexual Renaissance
Espinoza writes on their website.Espinoza’s artwork combines photography, embroidery, performance art, and other approaches to honor our dead and to “translate” queer bodies “into an offering for the Ancestors by becoming a landscape depicting the future,” they write.HIV and queerphobia are just two epidemics that have taken countless queer artists from the world.
During the COVID pandemic, Espinoza explored the concept “strategies for survival” by making works that reflected themes of community activism, the resilience of queer embodiment, and a distrust of public health institutions.
One of these was a small face mask made of black and pink condom wrappers and also a glory hole made out of medical face masks.“The glory hole has been used as a harm reduction technology limiting the transmission of both HIV and COVID 19,” he wrote. “What are other sexual technologies that have been used to reduce harm?”Espinoza was recently accepted as a summer artist-in-residence for the Tom of Finland House in Los Angeles and as an artist showcased in the 2024 Oregon Contemporary Artist’s Biennial.In our conversation, we discussed whether OnlyFans has started a new gay sex renaissance, the queer ancestors that most inspire them, and how art teaches queers how to survive.A post shared by Michael Espinoza (@michaelespinozaart)Which queer artists excite you the most?I get a lot of my inspiration from artists who were living queer lives and perished from AIDS-related complications, such as David Wojnarowicz, Peter Hujar, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Robert Blanchon, Patrick Angus and many more.
If you haven’t heard of some of these artists, look them up; they made queer art when it was even more dangerous than it is now.
