Organizers used the word ‘maricon’ to reclaim it from the haters

The word “maricon” in MariconX — an art exhibit at the Latino Cultural Center being staged by Arttitude — means “faggot.”

Lex Treviño, one of the organizers of the exhibit, said he used the word in the exhibition title to reclaim it. The “X,” he explained, is the “X” adopted in words like “Latinx” to be gender-inclusive. The idea is to offer a safe space for local LGBT mostly Latinx artists who don’t have a platform to showcase their work.

Seven local artists have their work on display here through the end of July.

Olivia Peregrino’s photos are of lesbians families in Mexico “where they’re still fighting for equality,” she said. Body positivity is a theme in her work, and she’s creating a series done both in Dallas and in Mexico including different races, religions and sexual orientations.

Sensuality is the theme of Debra Gloria’s black and white photography. She said her Facebook page was taken down after she posted one of her pictures that included a nipple. That censored photo hangs in the exhibit uncensored. She wondered aloud if part of the problem with that image was that the couple was interracial.

Her method is to interview the model — she uses nonprofessionals — in her studio, which she called a safe zone. “Trust is important to me,” she said.

Enrique de Altamirano designs fashion dresses, and has been “doing fashion since I was 14,” he said.

He designs for quinceañeras and weddings. For the show, he designed for Marie Antoinette and Juliette. He said he’d like to do a series of dresses for women through history, beginning with Cleopatra.

Armando Sebastian said, “I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, painting for eight.” He’s inspired by Mexican folk art, and his characters look akin to Frida Kahlo’s.

He doesn’t use models for his paintings. Instead, “I’ll write poetry, and the poem becomes the picture,” he said. “Music becomes a picture.”

His piece “Orlando Dreaming” is in memory of the Pulse massacre. A tattoo on one victim’s arm reads, “come out be yourself.”

Marco Saucedo paints with acrylic and spray paint to bring to life memories of his childhood.

“I was undocumented and gay,” he said. “Both have a shame associated with them.”

Not feeling welcome is a theme he develops in his paintings; it is a feeling, he said, that comes from moving to San Antonio at the age of four and not speaking English.

Trevino wanted a trans artist included, so he asked Jayla Wilkerson to create several pieces for the show. Her painting The Daily Struggle shows a woman getting ready for her day

“The wig, the razor — the hardest part of the day for a trans woman,” Wilkerson said.

Her work, In Appreciation of the Turtle Creek Chorale, honors the chorus’ 24-hour transgender concert last year to commemorate trans lives lost to violence. The concert was performed with the Los Angeles Transgender Chorus. The painting shows TCC artistic director Sean Baugh at the piano with a view of downtown as seen from Trinity Groves in the background.

Arttitude is staging MariconX events around the state. All feature local LGBT Latinx artists from the area where each display is staged. Most have been pop-up events rather than gallery exhibitions like in Dallas. In Austin they held a one-day pop-up in Cherry Cola Dog that Treviño described as “a hippie commune.” Another was in McAllen at Rio Grande Valley Pride.

“I did this as something positive to balance myself,” Treviño said. “Since Trump, LULAC has been exhausting.”