Little Theatre Auditorium is proud to present photo exhibition by Laura Migliroino:
The Hidden Life of Books: Chapter III The Tretter Project Queer History
Artist Talk 5:30pm-6:15pm
Enjoy espresso drinks and cocktails available for purchase with complimentary snacks.
This is event is free and open to the public.
Laura's work will be publicly showing Friday June 7 and at Studio Hop 2024 on Friday June 14, 4-9pm & Saturday June 15, 10am-5pm.
The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies is one of the largest and most comprehensive collection of Queer History worldwide. Housed at The University of Minnesota it holds 3500 linear feet of material, in 58 languages. This photo series captures the elegant beauty of books, animating them and bringing the pages to life. Through the photographs the long suppressed and actively erased history of the community can be understood through a unique path. Art is a powerful tool for social action and engagement, and my work often has a political tone.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As my wife and I celebrate our tenth year of legal marriage the radical importance of our marriage shocks me. We married out of love and protest, boldly denying those who want to erase us. As many countries around the world move toward autocracy including the country of my family, Italy. The attacks, on LGBTQIA+ rights continue to escalate. The assault against the trans community politically, legally, and socially is a sad turn of events. In May of 1933 when Nazi youth ransacked The Institute for Sexual Studies in Berlin, destroyed research, and burned books they also beat to death trans woman Dora Richter.
As a woman, a lesbian, and a human I must use my work to illuminate, educate and inform. One way the dominate culture subjugates the minority is by erasing their history. Worldwide the Queer History has been erased, attacked, repressed, and outright banished into non-existence. The recent movement to ban books from schools and libraries Focus on LGBTQIA+ themes and African American literature and history. My photography series The Hidden Life of Books explores the histories of marginalized communities that have been ignored, rewritten, or actively attacked. I am humbled by the courage and strength of humanity to overcome life’s challenges.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Migliorino was born in Cleveland and grew up in a Chicago suburb. Migliorino's BFA is from The Art Institute of Chicago and MFA is from the University of Minnesota. She teaches Anoka-Ramsey College near Minneapolis, where she lives with her wife and two Chihuahuas. Migliorino has received Jerome Foundation grants, Minnesota State Arts Board grants, and various exhibition prizes. Migliorino was an Affiliated Fellow at The American Academy in Rome, and a Fulbright Scholar at The British Library in 2022.
Her work is in the collections of the Walker Art Center, Weisman Museum in Minneapolis, The Minnesota Center for Book Arts and The Warehouse in Atlanta. She has exhibited for over 30 years, and work has been featured in the Huffington Post, DOMUS Magazine, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The News Hour, and DWELL. She has exhibited in London, Rome, Minneapolis, New York City, Los Angeles, Sardinia, Chicago, and Michigan. Her most recent project is The Tretter Project: A Queer History Zine exploring the LGBTQIA+ archives at The University of Minnesota
See less
Comments