Bridge 4 – Project Proposal

• What stereotype do you want to critique, dismantle or provide a new perspective/point of view on?

Stereotype: Christian and Gay

I am a Christian, but I am gay/ have no bias against gays.

• Who are you inspired by? Is there an artist or activist that you’re looking at for inspiration? Make sure to include an image of their work.

Got the idea from me. My own feelings, experience, and thought. One day I saw a preacher holding a board with ‘GAY  BELONGS TO HELL’ on it in Washington Square. I suddenly realized that this kind of behavior is strength people’s stereotype that Christians hate gay. But I am not. And I know I am not alone. I did some research and I saw some parade images. An image that I took in MoMA somehow pop up in my mind and I think it is somehow related.

• What’s the message you want to convey/share with your audience?

Not all Christians hate gays. Some Christians support gay and some of them are gay. It is already hard for them to be themselves in their religious background, they shouldn’t be pressured by the stereotype.

• In the proposal, make sure to tell us what kind of material/medium you are planning on using: photography, video, collage, painting, performance art, sculpture…etc. Be as specific as possible.

Collage. I want to use collage to show the complexity a Christian gay could face. He needs to deal with his own belief and relation with God; he needs to stand up for himself in front of other Christians who don’t accept gay; he needs to face the stereotype that people have about Christians hate gays.

• Who is your audience: who are you thinking will look at your final project?  Is it someone in an art gallery or museum?  Is your artwork going to be seen on the street? If so, is it ‘street art’ or “graffiti”? Will be something that is worn, like body armor, an article of clothing or something else?

Christians who don’t support gay; Christians who support gay; Christians who are gay. Ordinary people. My work is going to be in the museum because the audience will need to spend some time looking at it so that they could know what I try to express. But I am not pretty sure since my resources are mainly on street, I want to present my work on the street too, but people may not understand my work due to limited looking time. 

I have another idea about presenting on street, like performing art: performers have tags on them to show their identities (Christian, gay) and they do the stereotype kind of things that people assume. But they suddenly perform the opposite situation and their identity mixed, showing the audience that they shouldn’t be limited by one simple tag and stereotype.