One of the deadliest mass shootings in US history occurred in the early hours of 12 June, when a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and wounding 50. Those who work in the visual arts, a field with strong ties to the LGBTQ community, were quick to respond.
The day of the shooting, the Brooklyn artist Dustin Yellin’s Pioneer Works art space in Red Hook organised a concert by the Stonewall Chorale, America’s first LGBTQ chorus, and the group Alsarah and the Nubatones. Around 500 people turned up for the event. “My father is queer. Dustin’s mother is queer. Many of our staff are queer,” says Gabe Florenz, Pioneer Works’ co-director. “Though I did not know anyone directly affected by the tragedy, it still seems very personal. We felt that we had to respond.”
On 23 June, the artist Terence Koh led an intimate ceremony through his show at Andrew Edlin Gallery, in SoHo, New York. The artist chanted and gonged as he led a group to the back room, where he had built the hive-like Bee Chapel, into which he climbed and sang the names of the victims of the shooting. A microphone inside the hive transmitted his voice to a device outside the gallery, which was meant to send the names into outer space.
Even where there were not explicit memorials, Orlando seemed to seep into the consciousness of the American art world. Chris Bogia, the co-founder and director of the Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR), posted a message to Facebook a few days after the shooting about the group’s decision not to pull a Nicole Eisenman edition being sold to benefit the organisation, even though it depicts a figure that has been shot in the head.
“The proceeds will go to ensuring that we can continue to support the creative voices of marginalised emerging LGBTQ artists with things to say,” Bogia concluded in the post.
