Im:mutable
Rebecca Cobo ’21
On View: April 3-11, 2021 (Galleries will be closed April 7 & 8)
I am a queer artist. To describe myself and my work as such is an act of reclaiming a once and still derogatory word. It calls into question how the experiences of queer people have changed with time and where I fit into this narrative. The loss of connection and nostalgia I feel towards unknown people of the past led me to explore gender and sexuality in its most beautiful moments and brutal realities. I’ve worked with my partner to create characters and storylines that are grounded in our own experiences and love while combined with archival documentation of queer life. As these fictional narratives come to fruition, I stray from tokenizing the experiences of our characters. Drawing them is an exploration of a vast queer humanity that spans time periods, locations, and people. Their pain and triumphs are an invitation to know more, to fill in the gaps, to linger a little longer in the presence of what some might consider the Other, and some may consider familiar. By doing this I offer glimpses into individual queer experiences through believable but invented narratives and in turn present myself and my relationship as part of an everchanging ongoing queer history.
Rebecca Cobo ’21 is pursuing a BA in Studio Art with a double major in Psychology at Davidson College. Inspired by gender and sexuality throughout history, they illustrate invented narratives of characters that focus on the beauty and pain of queer experience. Their work has been featured on the cover of the Advertising and Bare Bones editions of Libertas.