Stories of Courage (2001)

Stories of Courage (2001)

With Kim Anno

Artist Kim Anno and I were invited to create a project for the Richmond, California Community Health Clinic that focused on issues of homophobia and queer identity. The goal was to use art as a means of defusing fears and tensions in a Bay Area city comparatively untouched by gay liberation. Working with nurses, doctors and staff at the clinic, and with community members who are clients, we held meetings, interviewed people, recorded stories, designed posters, worked with a high school Gay Student Alliance, and finally produced a multi-media exhibition in the main lobby with a reception event for the community. The posters, displayed throughout the clinic, exposed patients to some of the (anonymous) hopes and concerns of LGBT workers. An oversized fictional newspaper displayed biographical portraits of several unsung heroes in the city.

Stories of Courage was funded by the Richmond Clinic, and by the Creative Work Fund as one component of the Lost and Found project.