‘Queer Eye on the South’ event marks LGBT Center's 10th anniversary

UofL’s LGBT Center and The Speed Art Museum co-hosted an event in honor of the center’s 10th anniversary and the museum’s Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art exhibit.

The Southern Accent exhibit, which questions and explores the complex and contested space of the American South, will be on display until Oct. 14 at the Speed Art Museum. The event, “Queer Eye on the South,” was held Sept. 28 and provided attendees a chance to view the exhibit from a LGBTQ perspective.

“We’ve always considered the Speed Art Museum to be one of the city’s most LGBT-inclusive spaces, but Interim Director Stephen Reily really wanted to be even more intentional in letting the LGBT community know that they are welcomed and celebrated there,” said Brian Buford, assistant provost for diversity and executive director of the LGBT Center. “We decided to co-host this reception and viewing of the Southern Accent exhibit as a way of celebrating a community where compassion and inclusion are deep values.“

Dr. Jongwoo Jeremy Kim, an associate professor of art history in the Department of Fine Arts at UofL, and Miranda Lash, the curator of the exhibit will lead a tour, with special focus on the exhibit’s LGBT elements.

“Southern Accent is a powerful contemporary art exhibition that investigates the historical consciousness of the American South in imagery, objecthood and sound,” said Kim. “Among the key ideas structuring the exhibition is queerness — or what we may call disruptions that undermine concepts of coherent, immutable identities. Miranda Lash, the curator of the exhibition, and I look forward to discussing artists such Skylar Fein, Roger Brown, Catherine Opie, and Andy Warhol, while furthering the ongoing collaboration between the Speed Art Museum, the Hite Art Institute, and the LGBT Center at the University of Louisville.”

“This year, we are celebrating the LGBT Center’s 10th anniversary and we are thrilled that the museum is joining with us to honor this milestone,” Buford said. “Everyone is welcome — whether you or LGBT or not — because it took the collective commitment of all of us together to reach this point.”

Photo of Kim provided by the Speed Art Museum's Facebook page.