NORMATIVITIES IN THE LBGTQI+ COMMUNITIY

Normativities in the LGBTQI+ Community

Duration: 15 December 2023 – 20 January 2024

Crux Galerie and Positive Voice present the group exhibition Normativities in the LGBTQI+ Community curated by Fivos Sakalis.
What happens when the LGBTQI+ community itself forges normativities and dividing lines among its own members? By means of the same mechanisms, the same reasoning used by heteronormativity? It creates homonormativities. This exhibition seeks to spotlight an ever more evident internal problem within the LGBTQI+ community: the non-acceptance of the various gender identities and sexual practices of its various sub-groups by certain other sub-groups that comprise its ranks. Even to the point where sexual practices and a person’s character are made one and the same, leading to an individual being rejected. How do you fight such internalised prejudice?
Through its artworks, this exhibition sheds light on the various ways in which people enjoy sex or perceive their gender identity and sexual orientation. It spotlights without prescribing one approach, accepting all forms of difference as something natural. When it comes to the sexual practices of consenting adults, be it homosexuals or heterosexuals, the notion of “perversion” – and the animosity or even hatred it conveys – ought to be eradicated, since we live in a world of eight billion individuals, each of them a singular “I”. And there’s no going back – the acceptance of diversity is a one-way street.
The Greek Association of People Living with HIV – Positive Voice supports and co-organises the exhibition, as HIV is directly linked to the LGBTQI+ community in two ways. On the one hand, LGBTQI+ claims have historically been associated with HIV claims and the fight against stigma. On the other hand, the stigma surrounding HIV unfortunately still exists today, not only in same- sex relationships, but also in the broader community and society. Every victory for the rights and visibility of the LGBTQI+ community is also a victory in the fight against HIV vulnerability.

Mister Julianna recounts:
“When I was just a boy, not yet a teenager, I remember how I’d wear my mother’s lipstick and clothes. I started consciously exploring my homosexual identity sexually at 13. I bottomed till I was 19. Then my first serious partner brought out my versatile side. Later, I had sex with women a few times. One of them was a lesbian. When it came to penetration – something all men worry about [laughter] – it’s something I could do, but the thing I was really brilliant at was pleasuring my partner with my tongue and fingers. I remember saying, when I was around 25, that I found the lives of trans persons sad, set as they were within the ultra-conservative society Greece had back in the 1990s – it’s still conservative today, despite everything that’s been achieved… But I
found the strength or, at any rate, I was driven by – how best to describe it… – by my inner being to explore the feminine aspects of my personality. I was non-binary before they’d invented the term. [laughter] I bought my first pair of red heels almost 20 years ago when a boyfriend asked me to. I’ve played around at BDSM sessions. I’ve been with non-binary people, both topping and bottoming. I’ve been in a five-year relationship as a cis top man. I go about my day as a cis man, but some people also know me by my female name: Julianna. I still have lovely
toes despite my advanced years, and high-heeled sandals look great on me. And recently I’ve been thinking I might actually be a lesbian…
I like sex and I like to explore my urges – I feel it’s not just about the act itself, the endorphins, it’s also an exploration of self. There’s only one thing I’ve never done, something I can’t even understand how it’s done: the rejection of sexual expression in any form. I’m not an activist and don’t take well to stilted political correctness. But what I do believe in is that those of us who are “different” must have the smarts and the sensitivity to accept diversity in all its forms.”

Participating artists:
Dimitris Antonitsis, Eleni Christodoulou, Maria Cyber, Panagiotis Evangelidis, Dimitris Fragakis, Dionisis Kavallieratos, Angelos Papadimitriou, Nikos Papadopoulos, Stavros Papagiannis, Ilias Papailiakis, Poka-Yio, Leonardo Pucci, Spyros Rennt, Denys Shantar, Chrysanne Stathacos, Eva Stefani

With the support of Gilead Sciences Hellas.