Queer California @ Oakland Museum of California
Since November 2018, Patricia Cariño Valdez has been responsible for researching, developing, implementing, and evaluating onsite public programs that explore and amplify Oakland Museum of California’s (OMCA) exhibitions that contribute directly to the Museum’s social impact goals.
Queer California: Untold Stories explores untold narratives of California's LGBTQ+ communities and aims to go beyond the mainstream with stories focusing on transgender communities, people of color, women, and others who have often been left out of this history. The following programs were curated by Patricia and aimed to amplify the nuanced stories in the exhibition.
Installation photo from Queer California: Untold Stories
Young Joon Kwak Brown Rainbow Eclipse Explosion, 2017
Celebrating Stories: Two-Spirits Art and Performance
Saturday, July 13, 2019, 2–4 pm
The program was an afternoon of song, dance, poetry, and live performances with members from the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit (BAAITS), a community-based organization committed to activism and service for the Two-Spirit and ally communities of the Bay Area. The program celebrated and shared more about BAAITS’ 20-year commitment to spiritual, cultural, and artistic expression in native and non-native communities.
Two-spirit is a modern, pan-Indian, umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe certain people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ceremonial role in their cultures; a Native American term for people with both feminine and masculine energies. Two-spirits may (or may not) also identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.
BAAITS member collaborators: Roger Kuhn, Amelia Vigil, and Ruth Villaseñor
In Conversation: Black Trans Women on Resilience and Strength
Saturday, June 15, 2019, 2–3:30 pm
The panel discussion brought together three generations of black trans women discussing transgender rights, policies that affect the trans community, creating community and family, and what it might mean to imagine a safe and equitable queer future. This panel will feature Sharyn Grayson, activist and Chief Operations/Financial Officer of the Griffin-Gracy Educational Retreat & Historical Center, Valerie Spencer, social services specialist and Capacity Building Consultant, Ebony Ava Harper, Program Associate at The California Endowment, and Aria Sa’id, Executive Director of Compton’s Transgender Cultural District.
The evening will be moderated by Nico Calvo Rosenstone, Communications Officer at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in a thoughtful discussion with this family of activists and learn more about supporting LGBTQ+ communities.
In Conversation: Queer Cinema
Friday, June 14, 2019, 7–8:30 pm
This conversation focused on the history of queer movie-making and the absence of queer stories from mainstream cinema. Film historian Greg Youmans and S. Topiary Landberg from OMCA’s curatorial team discussed film selections chosen for OMCA’s special exhibition Queer California: Untold Stories and the importance of uncovering these forgotten stories. Following the discussion, Greg Youmans signed copies of his book Word Is Out.
Through the Lens: Tongues Untied
Saturday, May 4, 2019, 2–3:30 pm
In Tongues Untied (1989), filmmaker Marlon Riggs gives a voice to communities of gay black men, presenting their cultures and perspectives on the world as they confront racism, homophobia, and marginalization. Curator of Queer California: Untold Stories, Christina Linden, and local artist Blackberri who is featured in the film conducted a special screening of Tongues Untied, followed by a short Q&A.