QUEER GEOGRAPHIES begins with a slideshow of photographs that Sebastian Duncan-Portuondo created in response to the Pulse Nightclub Shooting in Orlando, FL on June 12, 2016 – where the victims were primarily Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Latinos/as. The photographs feature DISCOmosaic rocks referencing gay clubs, images of the rubble at Pulse where clubgoers escaped the shooter through holes busted in the walls, and rocks that come from the land. Alpesh Kantilal Patel writes that “The title of his suite of photographs, They Left it to a Future Place (2016) suggests that mirror tiles are distributed across space and time. In these ways, Sebastian ensures that queerness and transness cannot be easily vanquished.” These DISCOmosaic rocks and photographs led to an ongoing body of work called Club EXILE which both holds space as a memorial to the victims at Pulse Nightclub and Club Q, while seeking coalition between peoples who experience diverse forms of exile.

QUEER GEOGRAPHIES pairs the 2016 photographs with a new group of DISCOmosaic rocks created by the public through collaborative workshops at Franconia Sculpture Park during this year’s Midsummer Pride Party and in subsequent workshops during LGBTQ Pride Month. June also coincides with the 8 year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub Tragedy. These rocks will be installed at Franconia Sculpture Park as an ongoing artwork in memory of the Pulse Nightclub Tragedy after this exhibition closes.