Expressing love for queer identity
In the exhibition always love xxx, Sinead Overbye finds a soothing space that is unapologetically and beautifully queer.
Recently my social media feeds have been filled with hate – comment sections overflowing with anti-Māori, anti-trans, anti-queer rhetoric. These events have triggered the communities that I am a part of, but they have also prompted huge outpourings of support and aroha.
The recent exhibition at Toi Pōneke Arts Centre, always love xxx, by Yumoi Zheng (she/her) and Isadora Lao (they/ them), leans into aroha and focuses on the power of connection – to place, family, queer identity – and all the ways we can express love for each other and for ourselves.
Stepping inside, the gallery space is beautifully lit. The typical cool, harsh gallery lighting gives way to glowing, soft lights. On a Teams call between the artists, Zheng and Lao reflected on how important lighting was to the project.
Lao has been a lighting designer for eight years. The way they talk about lighting demonstrates a deep level of thought and consideration for how to create the right vibe. “When you have the ability to control light you control what you can see and can’t see,” Lao says.
Zheng and Lao shared a flat for two years, and when they lived together the lighting in Zheng’s room was always curated to reflect a cosy mood. They talk about how important it was to translate that feeling into the exhibition space.
As I move around the gallery, I understand what they mean. This is a retreat from the bustle of the outside world.
Zheng is a transfeminine artist whose solo exhibition last year at play_station artist-run space incorporated video, performance, poetry and installation. The exhibition, entitled talk soon xxx, was described by Angel C Fitzgerald as a mirror or a portal into Zheng’s world. always love xxx provides a similar feeling.
Zheng and Lao both have whakapapa to China – Zheng was born there, while Lao was raised in Aotearoa. These transmarine relationships are reflected in the water motifs running through this exhibition. BP oil spill (2024) is a series of prints that document an interaction between paper and oil, while Surrounding (2024) depicts the surface of waters that shimmer like the night sky.
The most eye-catching pieces in the exhibition are the works that involve video elements. In God Loves Fags (2024), words play a huge part in making meaning. The words ‘I will always love you, mother father whore son a disappointed daughter’ run around on repeat. This piece feels particularly intimate for queer viewers.
Zheng is reclaiming a historically derogatory term for queers, while also grappling with religion and acceptance.
For me, the rotating circle of text evokes the phrases that can revolve around our heads as queer people – things we are told about ourselves have a nasty habit of staying with us forever, but we can also find comfort in selfacceptance and love.
Throughout the exhibition, the artists wrestle with religion and its impact upon them as queer and genderqueer people. Even this fraught interaction is undertaken from a place of love.
My favourite piece in the exhibition is the moving image work Always Love xxx (2024). Here we see Zheng’s talents for editing together disparate pieces of footage, many taken with her phone, and stitching them together. We see Zheng taking a selfie video in a mall; a queer body exposed as a spotlight moves across it; families knelt in prayer; and finally a letter from Zheng being inscribed upon the screen: “Here I am … the children of the Zheng family … Thank you for … looking after me.”
Zheng’s work holds an intimacy that is familiar for those of us who are used to experiencing interaction through social media. It makes me think about how much we expose ourselves and our lives through the internet. While this kind of exposure is always accompanied by a sense of danger, Zheng highlights the beautiful intimacy that comes along with those kinds of interactions.
Whatever preoccupations we might have with social media, it is a powerful tool to connect with others. Watching Yumoi’s video works feels like entering a portal into her mind, and the way she perceives the world. The works flow and shift, and are united by an undertone of care, gentleness and love.
At a time where extreme religious groups have been painting over rainbow crossings nationwide, and the right of queer and trans people to exist is a nearly constant source of debate in online comments sections, it’s soothing to enter a space that is unapologetically and beautifully queer.
A space that is focused on love and acceptance, that elevates connections with blood and chosen whānau. We need more art like this. And for those who are not a part of the LGBTQIA+ community to have more portals through which they can encounter our communities with love, always xxx.