Call for queer spiritual art

Art about queer spirituality and activism is needed by May 24 for Tikkun, a national magazine on progressive politics and spirituality.

My goal is to help match LGBT-affirming artists with people who want to see queer spiritual art. So I am posting Tikkun’s “urgent call for art” in whole below.

I can personally vouch for Tikkun because they recently published my article “Take Back Jesus: The Queer Christ Arises for the Good of All.”

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Tikkun Magazine’s July/August issue will have a special section on LGBTQ spirituality, politics, and activism.

Please help us find good photos and art to use as illustrations!

You can send all JPGs, links, and ideas to [email protected].

We are a nonprofit with a limited art budget and ask for artists’ most charitable rates.

Here's what we're looking for:

* Any kind of fine art that evokes something about spirituality and queerness. This is an INTERFAITH magazine, and we need art related to Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Goddess religions, and more.

* Photos or paintings of queer or genderqueer or trans or same-gender-loving folks in the context of traditional religious spaces that they grew up in or are now part of (maybe holding hands or kissing outside or inside a synagogue, church, ashram, mosque, sangha, etc., or religious leaders with rainbow stoles or kippot or queer people engaging with religious texts or holding ritual objects)

* Photos or JPGs of paintings, prints or other sorts of fine art that evoke something about the socially transformative power of queer theory and LGBTQ political activism

* Photos of LGBTQ spiritual/religious events (i.e. people engaging in rituals or gatherings that have come out of different sorts of queer and trans theologies)

* Photos or paintings/drawings/prints of activists doing exciting work grounded in some mixture of queer politics, anti-racist commitments, and ideas of the intersectionality of oppressions.

Please pass along this call to your networks. All materials and questions should go to [email protected].

We need to receive art submissions ASAP -- by Monday, May 24, ideally.

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That’s the end of the official announcement. If you do plan to submit your art, please leave a comment to let me know that this post was useful.

You might enjoy visiting Tikkun’s online art gallery.

(Image credit: Jennifer R., Wikimedia Commons)

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This was posted by Kittredge Cherry, author of “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.” She blogs regularly at the Jesus in Love Blog.

Comments

[Clayton]

Wow, I hope it works for them! I tried the same thing when MyOutSpirit launched - gathering/generating images of LGBT people engaged in spiritual practice - I even offered a week at an LGBT retreat center in Hawaii. Maybe the time is finally right for this to work! Tikkun certainly has a much larger megaphone...

[Kittredge Cherry]

My impression is that many artists want to create more LGBT spiritual art, but they get isolated and discouraged because there doesn’t seem to be a “market” for it. Clayton, you and I are changing that by posting their art on our blogs and websites. So far I heard from 5 artists who told me that they submitted their work to Tikkun for this project.

[Clayton]

That's great!

[Clayton]

I hope they get photos as amazing as these from Holy Week around the world! http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/holy_week_2010.html

[Kittredge Cherry]

Thanks, Clayton, these are absolutely stunning. There's even a Filipina female Christ on the cross.

I did hear from one artist friend who said that Tikkun accepted his work on Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing how they illustrate queer spirituality.