Join us at Photoville 2023!
Mackenzie Calle
At this year’s Photoville, Magnum Foundation is proud to exhibit Counter Histories grantee Mackenzie Calle’s The Gay Space Agency, which confronts the American space program’s historical exclusion of openly queer astronauts and reimagines a history of the space program that celebrates queerness and highlights LGBTQIA+ role models.
LOCATION
Container 25
Brooklyn Bridge Park – Emily Warren Roebling Plaza
1 Water St
Brooklyn, NY 11201
On view
June 3 – June 18, 2023
Opening weekend: June 3 and 4, 2023
OPENING NIGHT INFO
During the evening screenings at Brooklyn Bridge Park – Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn at 7-9PM, we’re presenting Artist Spotlight: Family Amnesia by Betty Yu, in which artist Betty Yu invites viewers to learn about her Chinese-American family roots in the U.S. through her engaging and interactive zine.
about the exhibit
To date, 339 Americans have trained to be astronauts. None have flown into space as an openly LGBTQIA+ person. Further, astronauts in NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs were required to take “heterosexuality tests.”
The Gay Space Agency confronts the American space program’s historical exclusion of openly queer astronauts, reimagining a history of the space program that celebrates queerness and highlights LGBTQIA+ role models.
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. However, her sexuality would not become public until 2012, when her obituary read, “Dr. Ride is survived by her partner of 27 years, Tam O’Shaughnessy.” As NASA’s Artemis program aims to establish a permanent presence on the moon, this project questions what heroism looks like, and who might be a part of future exploration. Since Ride, only two astronauts have come out—both after going into space, and one outed by the media.
What if Life Magazine featured a queer astronaut’s family on its cover? What if a gay man soared into space at the height of the AIDS crisis? What if the first person to walk on Mars is gender nonconforming?
By traversing its edges, we can imagine a world not limited by anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiments.