Gay Rights are Human Rights! : Toward a Respect for Diversity

Lothar Müller, Mensch Rechte für alle, 2010, oil on wood, 31.4” x 15.7”, each

By Denise Colson

In December 2009, Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were arrested in Malawi after getting married. The marriage was considered illegal and they were accused of violating the “natural order.” In May of this year they were sentenced to 14 years of hard labor just for being homosexual. This event, which was denounced by Amnesty International, stirred up great turmoil throughout the world; so much so, that on May 29, President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned them in the face of mounting international pressure. Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi, just as it is in 76 other countries. In 5 of them, which have a Muslim majority, homosexuality is punishable by death.

These events, which appear to be taken from a compendium of human barbarity, led me to reflect on how much respect really exists worldwide for the rights of homosexuals and how sensitive and supportive we are to their demands. If I take Miami, the city in which I live, as a starting point, I find that it appears to be a cosmopolitan and liberal city in which the gay community enjoys the same rights as the rest of the citizenry. Nevertheless, advances are still needed on a social awareness level. In the State of Florida, same sex-marriage is still prohibited, as is the adoption of minors by same-sex couples. On newscasts we often hear of homophobic acts being perpetrated in the heart of our community. Our legislators do little in this respect and civil society does little to push for substantial changes. It is notable that the Gay Pride Parade took place for the first time in Miami last year, while in other cities it is a tradition. What is happening in Miami? What prejudices are we hiding under the facade of apparent freedom? What needs to be done in order for citizens to demonstrate a more open attitude toward sexual diversity?

Guillermo Riveros, Movement No. 1 from the series "Golden Age: Die Fledermaus", 2008, C-Print ed of 3.

These are the questions that Lothar Müller, founder of Kunsthaus Gallery with locations in Miami and in Mexico, asked himself. He therefore decided to organize an exhibition in his space in the Wynwood Art District addressing the theme of human rights, specifically gay rights.”Gay Rights are Human Rights!” includes works by both homosexual and heterosexual artists; it is a call to action that attempts to awaken the minds in our society, asleep in the midst of so much consumerism and banality.

The show opens with a well-known photograph by Nan Goldin taken by the artist in Boston in 1973. Kenny putting on make-up is a keen look at the private life of a sexually diverse person. This work tops the list of a series of photos and portraits included in “Gay Rights are Human Rights!,” which, by revealing the fragility of its subjects, becomes a denunciation of intolerance. This is the case with Caution by the Austrian, Wulf Treu. It is a photo of a naked punk youth, who is captured by surprise by the camera lens. It is the image of a reject, an alienated individual, the victim of a society that does not tolerate differences. Of note in the exhibition is a group of photographs set in New York by the Colombian, Guillermo Riveros. Riveros presents two masked masculine personages whom he places in ludic, dramatic or erotic scenarios. Through this artifice, the author recreates the drama of the opera Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss. For her part, the artist Dulce Pinzón presents Robin, whose real protagonist is Ernesto Méndez, a prostitute of Mexican origin who works in Times Square. Robin forms part of the series La verdadera historia de los superhéroes (The Real Story of the Superheroes) through which Pinzón renders personal homage to immigrants in New York.

The veiled or explicit representation of the human body is a constant in the exhibition: bodies that love, feel, think, desire. This is the case with the concrete mortuary plaques by Oscar Aguirre that bear the nude silhouette of an anonymous man, who masturbates in secret. Rafael Rodríguez in his Retrato Rojo makes the male sex organ the protagonist, recreating it with exquisite realism. For its part, Transparencias by Carlos Arias is an enormous canvas forming the embroidered and barely perceptible silhouette of a body, a kind of emotional geography and a reflection on the human being and identity.

Dulce Pinzón, Robin. ERNESTO MENDEZ originario de México D.F trabaja como sexoservidor en Times Square (Nueva York). Manda 200 dólares a la semana, 2006, digital print, 30” x 40”

Other artists present an expressly militant discourse as in the case of Lothar Müller in his enormous triptych Mensch Rechte für alle in which nude bodies, some resting on the shoulders of others, form a wall of flesh, calling for equal rights for all human beings. For his part, Leonardo Ramírez investigated the first marriage between two women in Spain, which took place in A Coruña on June 8, 1901. Two teachers, Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sánchez Loriga mocked the status quo and were married by the church in a simple ceremony. They were soon discovered, persecuted and rejected by their respective families. The scandal became public and they both had to emigrate to the Americas, they say to Argentina, where all trace of them was lost. Leonardo Ramírez investigated the circumstances surrounding this event and created an installation with news clippings from newspapers of the time. The author starts with a reference to the past in order to elevate the achievements of the lesbian and gay communities of today.

The exhibition “Gay Rights are Human Rights!” coexists perfectly with a solo project the gallery is presenting in its Project Room. The installation Parallantos (2009) by Iván Puig does not refer directly to the defense of gay rights, but rather it demands another fundamental human right, the right to live. It mourns the murder victims in Colombia and Mexico resulting from the wave of violence occurring there. A wall is covered in black umbrellas that open and close every 13 minutes; according to statistics, this is the frequency with which a person is killed in those countries.

“Gay Rights are Human Rights!” is a solid and courageous offering, which demonstrates that our contemporary society is still in the process of learning about and accepting sexual diversity. Recognizing this fact is the first step in saying no to discrimination, silence and indifference.

“Gay Rights are Human Rights!” ( May 9 - June 30, 2010). Kunsthaus Miami

3312 North Miami Ave., Miami, FL, 33127. Phone: 305 438 1333 / 305 735 2063

www.kunsthaus.org.mx / kunsthaus@bellsouth.net

* All images are courtesy of Kunsthaus Miami.