Mariette Pathy Allen and Culture Lab LIC’s Pride exhibitions, June 1-July 30

Mariette Pathy Allen has been photographing the transgender community for almost 50 years. Through her artistic practice, she has been a pioneering force in gender consciousness, contributing to numerous cultural and academic publications about gender variance and lecturing worldwide. From June 1 to July 30 (opening on the evening of June 3 from 6-9pm), Culture Lab LIC will celebrate Mariette’s work with the exhibition Breaking Boundaries: 50 Years of Images alongside another exhibition with work by other artists inspired by, or in the spirit of, Mariette’s work titled Breaking More Boundaries. The latter will feature invited artists Zackary Drucker and Jess T. Dugan.

These exhibitions are part of Culture Lab LIC’s celebration of Pride Month and are curated by Orestes Gonzalez and Jesse Egner. There is currently an open call for submissions to Breaking More Boundaries. Interested artists should submit art that displays the transformative values and perceptions of inclusiveness that are embodied in Mariette’s work. Mediums accepted: photography, painting, sculpture, mixed media. No video or film work. Applications are open now through April 15. Submission page here. Selected artists will be announced on April 19. Jurors: Mariette Pathy Allen, Orestes Gonzalez, Jesse Egner. Culture Lab LIC is located at 5-25 46th Avenue, LIC, NY 11101. Phone: (347) 848 0030.

Most of the photographs featured in Breaking Boundaries: 50 Years of Images were made in the US. Also included within the exhibit is a section on transgender women in Cuba and Spirit Mediums (who may be women, gay men, transgender, or non-binary) in Burma and Thailand.

Books by Mariette Pathy Allen and several of the other artists will be available for purchase at the opening and throughout the exhibition.

Mariette Pathy Allen: “The importance of this exhibition in this retrograde, evil political climate, can’t be exaggerated. We hope that by presenting transgender and non-binary people as relatable, caring, and creative, we can help to dispel the misinformation and fear of gender and sexual non-conforming people. I am very grateful to the Culture Lab LIC’s Plaxall Gallery for giving me the opportunity to have this retrospective of some of my work on gender variance.

At the suggestion of Culture Lab LIC, Orestes Gonzalez, Jesse Egner, and I embarked on creating an Open Call to find other artists doing work that relates in some way to my long-term travels with gender-expansive people. I began to form this exhibition by inviting two young and highly-accomplished artists, Zackary Drucker and Jess T. Dugan, whose portraiture of strong, courageous people reminded me of some of the heroic people I photographed over the years who led the way to greater freedom of expression. I feel these artists’ love for the people they photograph is similar to mine. Orestes, Jesse, and I are waiting excitedly to see what treasures the open call brings!”