The Campfire in the Closet: Susanna Bluhm on Regina Hackett on Zack Bent
Earlier this week, I posted a response to Regina Hackett’s reaction of Zack Bent’s use of imagery derived from his experience with the Boy Scouts in his current exhibition at Gallery 4Culture. One of Hackett’s chief complaints about the Scouts is their well-known exclusion of homosexuals. Today, artist and blogger Susanna Bluhm printed her response, which deals directly with her personal experience of being on the receiving end of this kind of discrimination. It’s powerful, honest, and long. And honest. And powerful.
So, here is something you will only relate to if you yourself have been discriminated against: It sucks. It wears on you insidiously, creating pockets of shame and doubt where you least expect them. You don’t realize you’re doing it, but you constantly look for cues in friends and acquaintances and musicians and artists that might indicate whether they are on your side or whether they think you should be drinking from a different water fountain. It is heartbreaking when someone who you thought was on your side has actually always been on the other side. It is disorienting when these issues and feelings seep into one’s professional world.
Read the whole thing here.
Thanks, Emily.