Gallery • 5 Photos

“We Do Not Love for You,” an art exhibition about lesbian sexuality and intimacy, debuted Sept. 15 at Alias 14 W, a new experimental community art space in Huntington. Tatiana Castro, the artist behind the exhibit, said she wanted people to understand her sexuality and relationships through this exhibit.

“The stories I’m telling here don’t make up even a fraction of all the stories we [the LGBT community] have to tell,” Castro, senior art major at Marshall University, said.

Castro said she drew inspiration for the exhibition from both the historical and present struggle for lesbians and the rest of the LGBT community.

“We are sexual but that’s fine, because everybody is,” Castro said of her sexuality.

She said her work is important to her because not many exhibitions are focused toward the LGBT community.

“I do my part in bringing genuine and realistic gay work into the light for everyone to see,” Castro said.

The art exhibition included a performance piece which highlighted specific real-life stories Castro used as inspiration for her pieces. Performance art was spearheaded by women in the 1970’s, Castro said.

The performance art piece was set up to look like a traditional slumber party. Slumber parties are often very sexualized, Castro said, and this performance piece consisted of three true stories of women’s struggles with their sexuality.

Castro’s artworks were painted on tapestries that she sewed herself. She worked with many different fibers and did a lot of sewing while creating her pieces. Castro said sewing is usually seen as a feminine craft.

“We Do Not Love for You” was sexually explicit and warned of graphic content. Patrons under the age of 18 were encouraged to be accompanied by an adult.

“I like that there’s a gallery in Huntington now that allows people to show this content” Bryan Pennington, a senior piano major at Marshall, said.

“We Do Not Love for You” was the first art exhibition to be shown in Alias 14 W.

Castro said the exhibition would not have been possible without Marshall and the Undergraduate Summer Creative and Research Discovery Grant.

“I love Huntington and I think Huntington has so much potential to be this art hub and alive with creativity,” Castro said. “We should push for more representation in that for gay people as well as every minority and ethnicity here that doesn’t get representation.”

LeAnna Owens can be contacted at [email protected].