Lorena Escalera Xtravaganza

Canada

Lorena Escalera Xtravaganza was a Brooklyn-based, transgender performer with the House of Xtravaganza. She was murdered in 2012. Although this crime received some media attention, the murder of Black trans people usually doesn't even though they are targeted and killed at an alarmingly high rate. And it's not just in the mainstream but within the Black community as well. I included her in Painted Love: Requiems for Salacious Sex Queens — my series of mixed-media portraits on deceased, sex industry-involved women. From Plasmatics frontwoman Wendy O. Williams to acclaimed writer Maya Angelou, the series celebrates the humanity of these women to defy simplistic, polarizing understandings of the ways in which they participated in the industry and the broad trajectory their lives had reached. It was a way to show respect for their dignity and visibility of their presence — a way to offer reverence.

2014

Mixed media (Ink, spray paint, oil sticks, acrylic, paint marker, nail polish, necklace, and nails on acetate and wood with metal frame)

36" x 16" x 1.5"

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