Artist Statement

MFA GRAPHIC DESIGN

11.18.2020

13:00 HR

ZOOM

FALL 2020

GRADUATE REVIEW JERRY LOCKABY

2

STATE​ MENT

LIFE UNDER GROUND This year has been defined by the plague of Covid-19 and the social unrest which reached a boiling point after over 400 years of systemic racism. I spent much of the summer researching the Black Lives Matter movement and watching the protests that marched across every single state in the nation. As a member of the LGBT community, I quickly learned and became fascinated by the intersectionality of the modern gay rights movement and the fight for racial justice.

1 Salzman, Sony. (2020, June 21). From the start, Black Lives Matter has been about LGBTQ lives. https://abcnews.go.com/US/start-black-livesmatter-lgbtq-lives/story?id=71320450 3

The Stonewall Riots, which sparked the modern Gay Pride movement, were led by black transgender members of the gay community. Although both the modern gay rights movement and Black Lives Matter were “created by queer folks, [cisgender] privilege has taken precedent over gay and transgender people.�1 Black Lives Matter was founded by three Black women: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, two of which are LGBT. As part of my effort to explore the intersectionality of the two movements, I decided to tell my own story. What was it like growing up gay in the South in the 1980s?

How did my parents react when I came out to them?

Who were the first LGBT people I came to know? How did I explore my own queerness? How did my lived experience influence my commitment to social justice?

4

I will explore what it was like being bullied, finding the friends that would become part of my family, participating in gay pride marches such as the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in Washington, D.C., confronting my own prejudices and insecurities and being part of history. By telling my own story, I also want to highlight the ongoing struggle for equality.

Combining my skills using photo manipulation and typography with vintage photos from my younger years, I took inspiration from editorial design, and have used the magazine as a metaphor for news, gossip, and rumor. Using an editorial style, I hope to signal to those who may be going through some of the same things I did, that the news gets better the more you stay tuned. I am also beginning work on an interactive experience dedicated to my journey meant to be used in conjunction with social media.

5

MID: 225-LOCKABY

JERRYLOCKABY.COM/REVIEW

THIRD SEMESTER