The Cleveland Photo Fest and LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland Present:
OPEN EYES OPEN MINDS: CLEVELAND QUESTS Rebecca Groynom • MANDEM • Jim Szudy
May 10th – June 30th Open M-F 10am–5pm LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, 6705 Detroit Ave, Cleveland, OH 44102
"Our lives are a tautology of queer truth: people do exist outside social binaries, therefore people can exist outside social binaries. Our existence is irrefutable evidence of our own validity. Self portraiture is a radical act of proclaiming not only our identities, but also our evidence – our irrefutable refutation of all binary categories, of all limitations that would deny us. I am here, therefore I am possible.” — Mandem
Rebecca’s urban and rural architecture is presented with sharply drawn black and white lines of decaying buildings and abandoned farms, complimented by a delicate image of a curtain floating quietly behind a summer’s day open window.
Mandem is the collaborative name shared by a radically interdisciplinary queer, neurodivergent artist trio/family. Their work is drawn from Victorian portraiture as much as it is from their digitally remastered and contemporarily constructed portraits from Mythology, which use childhood portraits as a point of departure.
Jim’s colorfully imagined digital creations are a surrealistic counterpoint to the expressed imagery of Groynom and Mandem, allowing the viewer a fanciful insight into visual hallucinations.