Burning Question
How has the spread of gay and lesbian liberation impacted the peripheral communities within the gay cultures of South and Central America?
Traveled To
Santiago, Chile
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mexico City, Mexico
São Paulo, Brazil
About the Artist
Born 1977, Fort Worth, Texas. Lives and works in New York.
I’m interested in how gay culture has permutated itself on the margins, particularly following productive women’s liberation precedents and D.I.Y. punk and Riot Grrrl style communities. I am particularly interested in South and Central America because I am aware of radical left queer rock bands touring these areas. The underground cross-pollination of these countries is completely invisible unless you have first-hand knowledge of its existence. My enquiry will also investigate the existence of a feminist and/or lesbian community of cultural production that may include contemporary artists or underground publications.
—K8 Hardy
K8 Hardy is a video, film, print, and performance artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Hardy repossesses and militantly critiques iconic images of women. Heavily influenced by second-wave feminism, Hardy’s work ranges widely from the poetic to the abrasive to the comic, but always address intimacy, power, and the role of women in contemporary society. Rendering the politics of generations of feminists—from Women’s Lib to Riot Grrrl—into a visceral physical and cinematic language, Hardy’s performance is part call to action and part homage to past forms of queer and feminist protest and resistance. K8 Hardy has a BA in Women’s Studies from Smith College and was a Fellow in the Whitney Independent Study Program. She is a founding member of the collectively published queer feminist art journal LTTR (Lesbians to the Rescue), and the founder of FashionFashion magazine. She also works as a fashion stylist for clients including Fischerspooner and has made music videos for bands such as Lesbians on Ecstasy and Le Tigre.