Queer + Trans Icons: Everyday Portraits

​AUGUST 2019

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ART WORKS | San Francisco Public Library + Street Sheet | San Francisco

ZINES: 
Zine One
Zine Two
Zine Three
Zine Four
Zine Five
Zine Six
Zine Seven

For best printing, the zines should be printed on 11" by 17" (aka Tabloid / Ledger) paper. If printed, zines must be give away for free. To fold the zine, please check out this tutorial.

WHO ARE QUEER + TRANS ICONS? 

So often, names like Harvey Milk or James Baldwin or Frida Kahlo or Gertrude Stein are spoken. Occasionally, someone will mention Janet Mock or Pedro Zamora or Chas Bono. Rarely, a comrade will bring up We’Wah or Miss Major. Yes, all of these fabulous people are icons. They hold a place in our imagination that makes them seem larger than life, something worthy of respect + veneration. 

They also are (and were) just people. They are (and were) neighbors, friends, caretakers, siblings, co-workers, lovers, the folx you pass just walking down the street. 

It got me to thinking, how did they become the icon they are now perceived to be? In large part it’s because someone else said they were an icon. And why someone said their name is because someone else wrote about them. 

So…I decided to queer (to disrupt the expected norm) who gets named as queer + trans iIcons, and turned my gaze to my neighbors. I asked folx to share a selfie + A  story with me. I then put their portrait + bio onto paper. 

Each one of these fantabulous people are a Queer + Trans Icon. For each one is worthy of respect and veneration.  

I encourage you to look at your neighbors + turn them into icons. Ask them about their lives + put their portrait + bio on paper. Then, Share their stories with others. 

We can all be icons together.

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A very special thank you to artist Midori without whom this project wouldn't exist. The very beginnings of this stem from a Queer Qulture Qamp Midori hosted at YBCA in summer of 2017. In conversation with Midori, we developed a workshop series in Summer 2018 for children and teens at the San Francisco Public Library building on her initial concept. At the SFPL workshop, we explored Queer + Trans Icons who were ancestors and trailblazers and even some that are current changemakers. This body of work directly springs from that well. Midori was also a co-facilitator at the SFPL workshops in Summer 2019. 

WORKSHOPS:
As part of the development cycle of these zines, two different workshops were created.

The Selfies + Stories Workshop was facilitated with queer + trans folx at Street Sheet +  the Hormel LGBTQ Center at the San Francisco Public Library. During these workshops, participants explored aspects of self portraiture using mobile technologies and how to craft three sentence stories. The material generated during this workshop became the basis of half of the portraits. 

The Queer + Trans Icons Workshop was hosted by the Children's Department of the San Francisco Public Library at both the Mission and Main Branch. During these workshops, tweens + teens explored zine making, community ethnography, and queer + trans identity. 

To book a workshop, email artist Jason Wyman at queerlycomplex [at] gmail [dot] com.