Image courtesy of Lonesome Bill Walker
Poison Ivy by Lonesome Bill Walker
'Poison Ivy' by Lonesome Bill Walker
As an artistic exploration of queer community liberation, “Glory Hole” is curated by Lonesome Bill Walker to mirror his medical transition over the course of the last five years, incorporating his love for communal creativity and shared queer joy while rejecting censorship. The multifaceted art installation is this weekend at Yours Truly Studio, 833 . Center St. in Riverwest, featuring 24 hours of curated performances ranging from workshops to music to outdoor film screenings. The event is free and takes place Friday, October 17 from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., Saturday, October 18 from noon to 7 p.m., and Sunday, October 19 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Masks are required indoors and will be provided.
Walker is a peer-taught artist, and he sees “Glory Hole” as an opportunity to bring in each of his beloved artist friends and longtime collaborators—including Sevan Mercy, Gina Cornejo and Emily Dalske—to bring immersive art environments to life. “My work does not exist without the people in my life - my friends and my neighbors,” Walker states. “This is a blueprint for how art should be made, shared and explored, and not shown from a place of fear.”
Endurance Art
In addition to works by Walker displayed, attendees can expect endurance art and physical feats of strength as well as live screen printing, cake sitting, late-night ghost stories, karaoke, a Chinga La Migra dance party and more. Saint Jawn Cinema will have film screenings of horror movies and music videos as well as “Serial Mom” by John Waters, each projected onto a Cream City Brick wall behind Yours Truly. Sunday will feature potluck “Dyke Church” with erotica scripture readings and wet t-shirt contest “baptisms.” All three days will have themed dress codes.
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“Glory Hole” draws parallels to the oppressive material conditions historically imposed on queer and trans communities, whether it be pervasive criminalization, limited freedoms afforded to them, or systemic failures in protecting them in crises such as the AIDS epidemic or COVID.
“I like to title my shows with something that’s attention-grabbing while also clearly queer-coded, and being a play on words,” Walker explains. “I have this body of work - some of it’s been shown, some of it has not - that started when I started medically transitioning, and all of it plays on each other. I’ve been tracking the quality of my work and the conversations that they’re having with each other throughout time.”
Joy and Discovery
Image courtesy of Lonesome Bill Walker
this litty piggy by Lonesome Bill Walker
'this little piggy' by Lonesome Bill Walker
Walker remembers observing how many folks had liberties to explore their queerness or transness during Covid quarantine. “People my age have been kind of forced to anchor our queerness to the AIDS epidemic, where everything is related to trauma, but then in 2020, I saw how there was this juxtaposition of joy and discovery and abundance and connection along with this very public national and international loss.”
Having befriended Walker several years back, Yours Truly co-owners Molly Hassler and Taylor Bucki instantly connected with the “Glory Hole” concept and intentions. “Bill has shown up for us and the community so much, and I’m excited to see the community show up for Bill,” Bucki affirms. “He deserves a little celebration.”
“I’m excited to see some freaky shit happening and come as close as we can get to actually feeling free,” Hassler reckons. “I feel really lucky and grateful that we’ve worked with community members to make this a space independent from grant dollars or government funding, where we’re small enough where we can do what we want and be as gay as we want.”
Sponsors of “Glory Hole” include Tooth + Nail Studio & Gallery, To Hell & Back Vintage, River Press and Milwaukee Tool Library. The gallery will welcome donations and further sponsorships for the artists throughout the weekend.
