To fade is to gradually grow into or out of view. During my lifetime growing up as a gay woman I have already gone through the process of hiding, being permitted to be gay, and hiding again. It is a cycle that, much like ocean tides, is timed with apparent low and high thresholds.  My goal in this project was to create a visual element of my experience in being a part of a unique community where even though there are times when we are highlighted we are eventually forgotten.

 

Tampa has a long history of its LGBTQIA+ community. The queer pioneers of the 1950s left Tampa with safe spaces, churches and memories that show the queer community was not just a current wave of transplants but something that holds strong in the very fabric of Tampa’s history.

 

The photographs used were taken by past and current contemporaries highlighting weddings, celebrations, and everyday life of the LGBTQ+ community. Many of these were taken at bars and homes demonstrating that even though many aspects of personal freedoms have been gained, there is still a need for spaces that offer comfort and acceptance. This piece is a temporary and temperature-sensitive installment. It is a large poster print with permanent, heat-sensitive ink applied to it. When cooled, the poster is completely black. It takes the body heat from physical touch to reveal the images underneath. At this size, one person cannot completely reveal the underlying images by themselves before the poster reverts to its black state. This act demonstrates that as in life, the LGBTQ+ cannot survive without constant, unwavering support from our surrounding communities. We will disappear behind the black.