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Come As We Are (not as they want us) Paris Tankard
Many generations of queer people of colour have been consistently overlooked, leading to a deeper feeling of oppression and discrimination, not just from the wider society but from those within our own community. With Racism, Xenophobia and Colourism rampant within the LGBTQ+ community there have been many people who are still feeling othered from the community that should be banding together. Come As We Are (not as they want us) is the amalgamation of shared experiences amongst those who feel that they are being side-lined within a community already at odds with broader society. It explores the joy of queer life as well as the struggles around ethnicity, religion and identity too often pre-determined by views set in motion through the media. The work is designed to subvert the stereotypical newspaper print and screen depiction with their insistence on one dimensional views of diverse peoples. Come As We Are (not as they want us) is exactly that: our representations of ourselves and announces, quite simply, our arrival.
