Art engenders conversation, as such the Dallas Arts District will launch its June Pride celebration with programming beginning on June 18. Encompassing the entire stretch of the district, the Dallas Arts District has paired up with the Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, and the AT&T Performing Arts Center to celebrate and create conversations around Pride. The commemoration, which has shifted to Pride Party +, will be both virtual and in-person for three days, each day offering opportunities to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
The celebration will begin at 6:30 p.m. on June 18, 2021, with a virtual kick-off with a host of performances. Available on Vimeo, performances by Kennedy Davenport, the Drag Race superstar, and Dallas’s Dezi 5 will dazzle this year’s Pride-goers. The virtual plus onsite combination allows a vast array of opportunities for the community as it allows residents who are not in Dallas to participate in the conversation.
As the weekend is rooted in love, recollection and remembrance is also an integral part of Pride Party +. At the Crow Museum of Asian Art, the largest community project in the world will be on view through June 30. The AIDS Memorial Quilt installation remembers the lives lost due to AIDS and the importance of awareness around the AIDS epidemic. The Crow Museum will display three quilts, two quilts remembering Asian lives lost, and a third quilt by local Dallas citizen and activist Duane Kearns Puryea.
Taking part in the weekend, the Dallas Museum of Art will host virtual talks, concerts, and screenings. The museum will screen a film titled Innocent Boy on Sunday, June 20 at 3 p.m. The film, a horror short that depicts lust, greed, and corruption from the eyes of a young trans boy, anticipates a monumental conversation both geographically and socially. Set in Texas, the film implores the viewer to visualize how geography impacts the safety of many in the LGBTQ+ community. Cinematographer Karissa Leicht says Innocent Boy is a diverse film that presents many forms of acceptance. “What’s beautiful about the film is that no one in the LGBTQ+ community has to watch out,” she states. “In a post-apocalyptic world, the characters live in a state of acceptance.”
The young and burgeoning cinematographer says it is an honor to be a part of Pride Party + to help bring conversation to Dallas through her art form. “It’s really great to contribute to this,” she says. “It’s truly an honor to be at the DMA and bring my film to Dallas.”
As discussions on bringing LGBTQ+ art to Dallas, the Dallas Arts District has remained consistent. A part of the Dallas art scene is queer sculptor Jer’Lisa Devezin, whose soft sculpture Beaucoup Shive / Madam C.J. Walker ain’t got nothin’ on me can be seen from the windows of the Nasher Sculpture Center. The exhibition, a segment in the series Nasher Public, comprises millions of strands of both synthetic and human hair that acts as a monument to Black people and their history. The artist herself will be at the Nasher on Saturday, June 19 at noon, for a series of performances titled Kept. Throughout the duration of her Nasher Public exhibition, Devezin will perform once a week, on Thursday June 10 at noon, and again on Saturday, during her duration of Nasher Public, where she will “treat” her sculpture with common Black hairstyling products and practices. Using beeswax and styling spray as well as techniques like hair rolling with hot water, Devezin’s actions represent the life of Black hair and the culture around it. The performances also act as maintenance for the sculpture and upkeep of the sculpture.
The weekend is chock-full of important and entertaining events to build LGBTQ+ awareness. The Dallas Art District’s website offers a detailed schedule of performances and events. dallasartsdistrict.org – By Kit Freeman