Queerious Belongings • Curated by Julius Poncelet Manapul (They/Them/Ze) Works by 17 Artists* June 2025 •

Nehir Ay

Title: "Freak Freak Orlando"

Medium: Silicone sex toy sculpture

Scale: 4" x 4"

Program: Graphic Design

This work is built after the cinematic remakes of Virginia Woolf’s time, space, and gender fluid character; Orlando. The physical characteristics of this sculpture such as color, pearls, and hair texture and hair color are a grounding and faithful adaptation of Orlando’s appearance and fashion in the 1992 remake by Sally Potter (screened in class). However the conceptual framework is based on the avant-garde, 1981 remake by Ulrike Ottinger (Freak Orlando).

Orlando’s mortality is enough to make them a monster. This project aims to play with the balance between real and monstrosity. It questions the birth of the stereotypes that birthed homonormativity. It is not a chronological tracing back however. In contrast to films with a linear narrative, Freak Orlando is ahistorical, regardless of how frequently they may invoke historical events. They lack faith in progress and express the conviction that regardless of how much the forms may change, superstition will persist. "Instead of developing, events cluster and accumulate into a monumental story."

The choice of implementing dental, anal, and yonic forms come from my studies of the mythological creature, Vampire. The queering biting act of the Vampire, according to Christine Prevas, simultaneously represents the “mouth, vagina, phallus, and even possibly anus, with the 'rank,' nausea-inducing scent of Dracula’s breath.” I combined all of these organs in a cluster, 2 co-existing without hinting at a climactic use –which is why I avoided a phallic form. This is also inspired by the ahistorical, and non-linear narrative of Freak Orlando.

This project started with my question of "What would porn/sex tech look like in the obsolescence of homonormativity?” However, my process of designing this sexual sculpture changed significantly when I let go of the climax (the idea of getting at an answer) because I don’t think this is a question that necessarily demands an answer –but a thought experiment.

Laura De Micheli

Title: "Transparências: Vidas Interrompidas" (Transparency: Interrupted Lives)

Medium: Transparency, Bandage Tape, Metal Hoop Ring

Scale: 5" x 5"

Program: Graphic Design

Transparências: Vidas Interrompidas (Transparency: Interrupted Lives) is a memorial book project that honors trans lives lost to violence in Brazil, the country with the world’s highest rate of murders of the trans community. The work consists of several portraits of victims from the year 2024, layered on top of each other and printed on acetate. The piece touches on the visibility of trans people and its relationship to erasure and invalidation in society, as explored in texts like "We’re Here and We’re Queer!" by Michelle Walks, and "Queertopia is a Country That Does Not Exist" by Julius Poncelet Manapul. The book will be bound by a single metal hoop and housed in a bag made of bandage tape.

The source of these cases and images is drawn from Trans Murder Monitoring, ANTRA Brazil, and local media reports. The portraits use a halftone effect, a visual technique often used to distort photos in a way that prevents a figure from being fully seen, further emphasizing their current absence. Shape plays an important role: the squared “small photo” format directly references identification photos, highlighting how trans identity itself often becomes the reason many victims are targeted.

Through the single binding, viewers are invited to experience the work without a defined beginning or end, understanding it instead as a never-ending cycle that tragically continues in Brazil. The project depends heavily on viewer participation to bring the narrative to life. The act of unsealing the book from a fragile bag made of bandage tape, and unfolding what at first appears to be nothing more than a black block of stacked paper, is how these stories begin to surface. The viewer becomes part of the process of generating visibility, of reclaiming the personal identities that were taken away.

As a Brazilian designer and artist, I have heard countless stories and even lost family members to this ongoing systemic issue. Trans lives remain highly marginalized and often invisible in Brazil. When the images are layered together, nothing can be seen. But when viewed individually, one sees lives, people, and names. Returning to the question of visibility, and going even further. Transparências seeks to contribute to memory and justice, honouring a simple human wish: to exist. A wish that was denied.

Fatma Juma

Title: "Inside My Head"

Medium: Photography

Scale: 23.39" x 33.11"

Program: Photography

This work is of my emotions of sexuality, belonging and acceptance, sadness and self-hate that I’ve held onto for years. I’m the subject matter for this project as the concept is of what I kept hidden out of shame and fear. This work isn’t just an assignment, it’s a therapy for me to let everything out. The themes depicted in this series are sexuality, body image, self-hate and depression. I chose to do this project as a photographic series because it’s a big part of my identity and the method/style of photography I chose was a portrait work depicting my true feelings about my sexuality and my life, while using references from class readings to conceptualize the storytelling aspect.

The techniques/materials I used were a tripod and a ring light, I angled the camera and light in different positions to depict different emotions. The black and white relates to my ideas because it helps depict the feelings of self-hate and sadness I’m portraying and the alienation from family and religion surrounding my sexuality. Wetting my hair was a split-second decision which was perfect for the look I was going for and for my facial expressions, I didn’t act out anything I was simply using my resting face.

The viewers will make their conclusions about the work based on what they experience but for me, my need to be seen as I am while simultaneously hiding away from it as well is a constant back-and-forth that just eats away constantly. The scale for all the images would be the same, 23.39 x 33.11 inches. It relates to LGBTQ2S because it revolves around feelings of belonging and acceptance of sexuality and body image which is a battle we all face. I've put all my emotions and soul into this and I feel it should matter in the community because most works shown that represent LGBTQ2S are of acceptance and showing pride and I wanted to show a darker and raw side to that acceptance and the toll it takes on a person's mental health.

Zenab Kazmi

Titile: "Faqiri Chaap: A Shrine of Queer Becoming"

Medium: Installation Including a Soft Sculpture, Ghungroo and Framed Projection

Scale: Installation Varies from Different Spaces

Duration: 00:01:56

Program: Sculpture and Installation

Faqiri Chaap is a soft-sculptural video installation that reimagines queer embodiment through a Sufi lens. Rooted in movement, ritual, and memory, this work inhabits the Third Space that Homi K. Bhabha speaks of: a space between borders, between selves, where contradiction is not a conflict but a process of becoming.

At the heart of the installation is a found wooden frame, suspended on the wall, inside which a layered video composed of visuals of my feet adorned with ghungroos performing dhamaal to the beat of the dhol is played. The video is stitched between images of my past and present spaces. My voice moves through the piece in Urdu, carrying questions, declarations, and longing. Only three phrases appear in the text:

These are not subtitles. They are offerings. They are pauses. They are breaths.

To the left of the projection hangs a soft sculpture of a vulva, hand-stitched from chiffon and velvet (from Pakistan). It is framed by a found oval mirror frame that was once shattered and is now made sacred. To the right, the ghungroos I wore during dhamaal now hang quietly, holding the memory of movement. A triptych of this vulva appears in the video when I speak of the destination. The religious symbolism of three positions the vulva as a site of reclamation. It becomes a subversive metaphor for power, memory, ritual, and devotion.

The scripts that run through this piece exist as whispered zikr, sometimes defiant, sometimes desperate. It does not seek to explain queerness to religion, nor religion to queerness. It lives where they already meet, in longing, in repetition, and surrender. It is a call across time, lineage, and exile; a reminder that queer Muslims have always existed, and Ishq never belonged to just one kind of body. This is not a rebellion from faith, but an invitation to return through love.

Mars Shepherd

Title: "Colours and Shapes”

Medium: Paper and Markers, Stop-Motion Animation

Scale: Varies from the Projection or Screen

Duration: 00:00:42

Program: Drawing and Painting

I am a Drawing and Painting major in OCAD U and wanted to break from that mould of only doing paintings. I had the drive to experiment with something new like animation or sculpture. I am taking a minor in animation and I want to continue to improve my skills in that medium. I would love to do a stop motion film and I like creating puppets for film. I have chosen to make a stop motion film using paper cut outs in the colours of the pride flags. My thought process was because because of the bright colours it would make my animation more interesting and I wanted to represent people of the community. I was really inspired by Jim Henson’s short film called “ Time Piece”. One of the segments in the film was of colourful shapes made to move around using stop motion. You might have noticed that I have two animations of the same thing and that is because I am very new to any animation software and in my original animation the colours came out way too bright in a way that almost the whole screen was white. This colour trouble reminds me of the original Pride flag which had 8 colours instead of 6. The original Pride flag had an additional two colours hot pink and teal which had to be removed because of printing which was only able to print 6 colours not 8. My animation colours showed up really well and some got washed out. With some help I was able to learn editing software's to try to fix my animation. With the colours messed up and the values scrambled I still thought it was a very interesting animation and I thought that it could tie into how the 2SLGBTQAI+ community can be miss represented and have their real selves changed in a way or how over time people can changed with time.

My original plan was to use shapes and colours to represent people of the 2SLGBTQAI+ community but while I was making the animation it slowly showed to be more interesting to create abstract shapes floating around. This semester at school was only a month long and if I had more time to plan and exude my original vision I would. While I was making the animation I slowly started to move away from using the puppet of shapes and making each flag transition into another flag using patterns and other traditional techniques. Each sexuality and gender are connected to each other we are all human, we are all deserving of respect and love and I wanted to show that with the transition between each flag and the people who fall in the middle are the triangles and other shapes that move around.

Anastasia Vavaroutsos-Moffat

Title: "Angry Women Lovers"

Medium: Photography, Collage, Creative Writing

Scale: Average Magazine Print 8” x 11”

Program: Creative Writing

In a series of five 8" x 11” magazine pages, I depict the anger that brews when lesbians are fetishized. Using photography, collage, creative writing, nature, and the body, I explore gender roles and heteronormative comfortability. Displaying this work in a magazine will contradict what magazines have been known to represent for decades. Lesbian love is sexualized for male fantasy, then used against us to justify hate. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg highlights this anger and fear, and I take great inspiration from the novel. The raw and gritty life Jess (the protagonist) leads is something I’d like to depict through my art.

This project began prose focused and resulted in allowing the images and words to speak for themselves. I started with two models but decided using one would do a better job at honing in on one energy. My model’s comfortability in the creek, while also being aware of another gaze fixed on her, displays her vulnerability. In three outfits – one stereotypically masculine, one femme, one all black with more skin – the emphasis on body highlights the metaphorical and literal undressing of sapphics. Clothes shape perception. The choice to conform/push back against stereotypes is a decision often made with the male gaze involved. The sexualization of lesbians is prominent in subtle ways – from asking “Who wears the pants?” to blatant lesbian pornography, there’s constant pressure to meet preset, heteronormative (and homonormative) criteria. In Stone Butch Blues, Jess’ gender expression fluctuates throughout the novel, causing tension in not only her self expression, but also in her intimate relationships. The characters of the novel deal with so much violence and hate. When they strike back, they are deemed crazy, unreasonable, and most of all, angry.

Using Lily, my girlfriend, as my model created a comfort and rawness that I was looking to capture on camera. The depiction of nature implies interconnectedness and the ability to feel a little freer. The repetition of Is this what you wanted? Are you satisfied? And Stay quiet. Stay docile. Stay sweet. depicts frustration. It’s the back and forth many lesbians face on the daily. It highlights social expectations and the constant need for validation, even if that’s the last thing we’d like to admit.

Zoë

Title: "The Other Side”

Medium: Special Effects Makeup, Makeup

Scale: Photo Image Varies in Space

Duration: 00:40:21 Timelaps

Program: Graphic Design

The Other Side is a work that visually combines my two most undiscovered sides. As someone who has always found a creative release in art forms that are expressed through the body, I love to experiment with things that make others question how and what they’re seeing. I’ve been doing self-taught special effects makeup for about 4 years now, and I wanted to use this art form for my project, because I feel that it fits what I’m trying to achieve, and it’s a form of expression that is not used very often.

My work will be a series of 3 makeup looks. Each one is a visual image of how the LGBTQ2S+ community is seen and accepted in Asian, specifically Chinese, culture. My canvas for this project will be my own skin, and the materials I will use are a variety of special effects makeup and normal cosmetic products. My entire piece of work will be done in a matter of a few hours (documented over several days). The final work will be still images of the final 3 looks and a time-lapse of each look as well. As someone who was adopted and completely cut off from their birth origin and culture, this is an opportunity for me to research and embrace my origin. This final work ties two undiscovered halves of my self into one work that represents self-repair and self-discovery. This piece of work will sew together my lost culture and my quiet identity, creating a bold sense of self. Taking two of my halves to make the whole me, even if this whole needs to be sewn together.

I hope that my work and my research on self-discovery and acceptance within my culture can be related to many others and help them with their journey. With this piece, I hope I can look through a new lens and stitch together two of my undiscovered halves.

Cassie Chen

Title: "The secret written in the fabric"

Medium: Drawing, Mix Media, Silk, Linen, Glue, Paper, String, Tape, Cotton

Program: Illustration

My work mainly uses Nüshu (a unique female script) as the writing language for "Xingke Songs," with the cover of the rib-shaped book crafted from traditional costumes. I aim to express how women and lesbians are forced into invisibility in a patriarchal society. The inspiration for using ribs as the book cover comes from the Western biblical story where Eve was created from Adam's rib, implying that women are accessories to men. Nüshu was a counterattack by women in old times against the deprivation of their right to education in a patriarchal society, while "Xingke Songs" emerged as a product of women escaping arranged marriages. The artwork I Bring Myself by Marissa Largo has also inspired me greatly in terms of presentation.This work is far more complex than I initially thought, and the most challenging part was sewing the fabrics together—I had never tried sewing before. Yet, in those days, every woman was expected to master sewing, which reflected the patriarchal stereotype that women were unsuited for reading but fit for textile work.

Since Nüshu was primarily transmitted by sewing characters into clothing, I didn't give up even though my stitching was messy. I believe this imperfection highlights the contrast between the old and new eras, breaking the stereotype of women. Exposing the threads on the fabric also symbolizes revealing the invisibility of women and lesbians, urging the world to see and accept their existence. All faces in the photos are blurred because I don't want this work to be merely my personal perspective—it's a global issue concerning the experiences of all women and lesbians. The blurred faces echo the patriarchal erasure of women, but this time, the blurring is a conscious choice, hoping that women worldwide can be seen and heard. Through this work, I strive to challenge gender inequality in patriarchal societies: women have the right to write their own life stories. Society's structure shouldn't be dominated by male voices alone—women's voices deserve to be heard. Women have the right to choose their own marriages and relationships; their lives should be determined by themselves, not controlled from birth.

Lesbians’ histories have been even more deeply erased. Many close relationships between women were simply described as “friendships,” which hides their true identities and experiences. This doesn’t mean lesbians didn’t exist in the past—it means their stories were silenced or erased by history and society.

Yuxuan Fan

Title: “异类” (Outcasts)

Medium: Digital Illustration

Program: Illustration

I chose to focus on the struggles that LGBTQ people face in Asian countries, especially in China. My work comes from my own experiences and those of my LGBTQ friends. I decided to use drawing as my medium. At first I only had some scattered ideas in my head, but after thinking back on what my friends went through, I found a clear direction. I want to speak out for the LGBTQ community in a simple, direct way. That’s why I picked illustration. As an illustration student, I know how to use this medium to show the feelings I want to share. Most LGBTQ art I’ve seen feels hard to understand. My illustrations will be more straightforward and easy to get. I think they’ll catch the interest of other LGBTQ people because they show real problems that China’s LGBTQ community faces every day. These are true stories, and I believe people will relate.

All my inspiration comes from my own life. In high school, my first crush was a girl who’s LGBTQ. Before I confessed to her, she already came out to a classmate, and then other students started to isolate and reject her. Her parents didn’t understand, they thought she was sick. This experience inspired my first and third drawings. In the first painting, her parents look like spiders trapping her in a web and forcing her to become what they want. In the third drawing, two LGBTQ people are surrounded by caution tape, as if they’re monsters that people hate and fear. I chose a TV static effect for the background behind them. This represents how their voices go unseen and unheard, as if they’ve lost signal and are isolated and helpless.

The second drawing their outfits are the uniforms of Chinese high school students. Their daily live is like living in a perilous forest. If they ever caught in the light, they’re exposed to the threatening eyes lurking in the darkness. The idea came from what I saw online: LGBTQ people getting judged and attacked with hateful words on social media and other sites. With my work, I hope to tell everyone in the LGBTQ community who’s going through this: I see what you’re facing, and I’m here to speak up for you. Even if I’m just one person, I want to help. I attended the graduation ceremony this year, and I still remember what our principal said at the ceremony: “We cannot change the world, but we can start.”

Many Thanks!

We hope you enjoyed the collection of works from the students at "Making Gender: 2SLGBTQIA+ Studio" June 2025. This online curation is proudly brought to you by "Outside the Box Collective" founded by Julius Poncelet Manapul & Neda Omidvar in 2022.

A look at the Past 2024 Curated Show!