Anders Villalta
Oberlin College
Project
Practicing Art as Affirmation of Queer Brown Beauty
South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Dominican Republic
Who we revere as beautiful says a lot about us. My project explores how mainstream beauty cultures are socially constructed to the disadvantage of queer communities of color, and how these communities respond by asserting and affirming their beauty through art, music, poetry, performance and dance. I seek strategies for decolonizing and reclaiming our beauty by building personal relationships with queer artists of color across cultures.