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| Photo by Summer Surgent-Gough |
On December 14, 100 LGBTQ+ artists and allies convened in-person at The Whitney Museum while many more joined online for Queer|Art's biggest event of the year: The Queer|Art Annual Party. The 2021 Queer|Art Annual Party took the form of a hybrid event this year hosted by poet/performer Candystore and activist/drag artist Junior Mintt. The hosts guided us through an expansive award program followed by a slate of electrifying cabaret performances to celebrate the graduating Fellows of the 2020-2021 Queer|Art|Mentorship program cycle, the 2021 Queer|Art|Prize awardees, and the winner of the inaugural Black Queer|Art|Mentorship Award for Artists & Organizers (made possible with generous support from HBO).
In its first year, the Black Queer|Art|Mentorship Award, which offers a $10,000 prize to a Black Mentor or Fellow from the Queer|Art|Mentorship (QAM) community for uplifting foundational histories of Black queer mentorship, was awarded to artist and multi-year QAM Mentor Pamela Sneed. Sneed was selected by celebrated artists Maria Bauman, Saeed Jones, and Felli Maynard. In honor of the award’s first recipient, the grant will henceforth be named The Pamela Sneed Award for Black Queer|Art|Mentorship Artists & Organizers.
The 2021 Queer|Art|Prize honored the legendary photographer and activist, Lola Flash, along with writer and arts worker, Anaïs Duplan with $10,000 prizes, each recognizing their significant contributions to queer culture and community. Lola Flash was acknowledged in the category of Sustained Achievement, a category that serves to highlight art practices that have significantly impacted queer community and contributed to its endurance and expansion. Anaïs Duplan received the award for Recent Work, a category that recognizes an outstanding work created by a US-based LGBTQ+ artist between Pride of 2020 and Pride of 2021, for his publication, Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture.
