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Nuart Journal: TRESPASS

Check out the most recent Nuart Journal, where I had the absolute honor of being interviewed by Dr Susan Hansen about Queer Street Art and my film OUT IN THE STREETS. The interview, which is by far the most in-depth I have done about the project, can be found here: Queer Liberation and Street Art: Taking Public Space and Declaring Our Right to Exist.

And here can be found a digital download of the complete issue for free.

More: Queer Street Art, Dusty Rebel Production 

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#ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis

For the first time in over seven months I finally got to go to a museum! The International Center of Photography has reopened, and I got to see #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis in person — which includes one of my photographs.

The International Center of Photography staff have done a great job making your visit safe. Plus it feels so good to get to physically explore art!

More photos: Museums and Galleries

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Remote Filming During COVID

Finally got to do a proper interview with Suriani, who I first met in Paris back in 2014 and inspired me to start this crazy Queer Street Art project in the first place. Finishing an international documentary during a pandemic is not easy. But the only way a film is made—no matter the circumstance—is by trudging forward no matter what comes your way. Luckily, other countries are doing a much better job getting COVID under control, so I can direct remotely. Thanks to Stefan Verna for doing the camera work for me!

More Photos: Suriani, Queer Street Art, Dusty Rebel Production

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Out In The Streets: Dusty Rebel’s Mural To Celebrate Pride During The COVID-19 Pandemic

A few months ago, I was again offered the 2nd Avenue wall for Pride. Like last year, I wanted to bring in a queer artist, but then we got hit with this horrible pandemic, and all our plans fell through. As the weeks went by, the death toll rose, and most Pride events were cancelled, I knew I wanted to celebrate the queer community and our long history of using the street for performance and protest.

Talking with my friend Katherine ‘Luna Park’ Lorimer about what I should do, she suggested I fill the space with my photos. It never occurred to me—I've documented more murals then I can remember, but never done one myself. And with social distancing, I'd have to do it without help from any of the many mural experts I know.

As went through my archive, I got excited to create something that celebrates historic moments I felt honored to capture: NYC Drag March, kiss-ins, Gays Against Guns, Queer Liberation March, The Dyke March. As I pasted these photos of queer icons, mentors, activists, and friends, I felt you all with me out in the streets.

Thank you Steve Stoppert for the wall and all your support, and to City Kitty for sponsoring, my husband Jason for being my amazing assistant!

More photos: Dusty Rebel, Queer Street Art

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I am your worst fear, I am your best fantasy

For the 50th anniversary of the first Christopher Street Liberation Day, I'm made this t-shirt in honor of the sign carried by nineteen year old Donna Gottschalk in 1970, photographed by Diana Davies. The “I am your worst fear, I am your best fantasy" poster was Michela Griffo’s first piece of political art, and would become one of the most iconic slogans from the first Christopher Street Liberation Day. Griffo described her motivation to the New York Times in 2019. “As with all the other stereotypes foisted upon me as a lesbian, I was appalled that we were sought out as erotic fantasies by the same people who, when confronted with real flesh-and-blood lesbians, were deathly afraid.”

More photos: Dusty Rebel, The Queer Liberation March

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Resistance Is Queer x Keep Fighting

I just got back to New York, and I'm so happy to see my Resistance Is Queer  ad takeover featuring activist Sister Lotti Da is still going nearly two months later! This piece is in collaboration with Keep Fighting, and the photo was taken at the 2018 NYC Drag March.

More photos: Dusty Rebel, Queer Street Art, Keep Fighting

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Ms Colombia by Daniel “Dusty” Albanese At The Leslie-Lohman Museum

Can't tell you how exciting it is to see my portrait of Ms Colombia hanging in The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. Recently, the museum acquired two of my portraits of the beloved New York icon.

More photos: Leslie-Lohman Museum, Daniel Albanese, Ms Colombia

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Resistance Is Queer x Keep Fighting

This Resistance Is Queer poster features a photograph I took of the beloved Ms Colombia at the 2015 Easter Parade, who sadly passed away in 2018. This excerpt from The New York Times summarizes many of my thoughts on Ms Colombia:

“Daniel Albanese, a street photographer who often shot her, said that Gómez was loved because she resisted classification, refusing to soften her queerness, her personality or her aesthetic, even as the reputation and culture of the city mellowed out. ‘For me, Ms. Colombia was the embodiment of liberation,” he said. “She showed us how to thrive in the unique environment that is New York and proved this city is still a place where those who feel marginalized can flourish and be celebrated.’”

— Ms. Colombia Refused to Soften Her Queerness. She Paraded It, The New York Times Magazine, 12/28/2018

Resistance Is Queer is in collaboration with Keep Fighting NYC, and is part of a series of artist sponsored Queer Street Art alternatives to the corporate Pride events in New York City. More to come this month!

More photos: Dusty Rebel, Queer Street Art, Keep Fighting

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Resistance Is Queer x Keep Fighting

As promised, here's the return of my Resistance Is Queer series, in collaboration with Keep Fighting NYC.

This poster features a photograph I took at the LGBT Solidarity Rally outside the Stonewall Inn on February 4, 2017. Thousands gathered for the demonstration to stand with “every immigrant, asylum seeker, refugee and every person impacted by Donald Trump’s illegal, immoral, unconstitutional and un-American executive orders.”

This is part of artist sponsored series of Queer Street Art alternatives to the overwhelming flood of corporate Pride events in NYC. More to come this month!

More photos: Dusty Rebel, Queer Street Art, Keep Fighting, Ad Takeover

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Jim Power: The Mosaic Man

Since 1985, Vietnam War veteran Jim Power has beautified NYC's East Village with elaborate mosaics. His work, called The Mosaic Trail, celebrates specific events, artists, and icons of the neighborhood. Over the decades, many of his pieces have been lost, and others removed by the redesign of Astor Place.

My documentary short—Jim Power: The Mosaic Man— is comprised of two interviews with Jim Power; the first in 2014, the second in 2017. Jim talks about the history of his work, his battle to preserve it, and the importance of art.

More photos: Jim Power, Mosaic Trail, Street Art

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Paul The Bird Man

Went to visit Paul the Bird Man to show him this sticker by Sean 9 Lugo —which is based on one of my photographs—but he must be in winter hibernation. (Washington Square Park, NYC)

More photos: Sean 9 Lugo, Paul The Bird Man

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Fox In The Hen House

Just another day doing totally normal stuff with my girls. More photos: Halloween

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Mamma Roma!!

Channeling the great Anna Magnani at Cinecittà Studios. More photos: Daniel Albanese, Rome

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Creative Approaches to Change

Trying to ignore my naughty dogs while giving a virtual lecture to Metropolitan State University of Denver's course on "Creative Approaches to Change."

More photos: Daniel Albanese, Talks & Lectures, Street Art

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Women Of Resistance

Proud to have contributed photography to Women of Resistance — an anthology of poetry taking a feminist stance against the Trump administration. Tonight, OR Books will be hosting the official launch at The Strand Bookstore at 7pm in NYC.

More photos: Poetry, Resistance, Books

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#ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis

Last year one of my photographs was part of the International Center of Photography's exhibition #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis—which presents images made by hundreds of photographers across the globe in 2020, showing daily life in the midst of the global pandemic, autocratic regimes, and deep political unrest.

“Above all, #ICPConcerned is an ode to the irrepressible human spirit, a solemn memorial to what we’ve lost in these painful global catastrophes, and a testament to the prevailing of art and beauty in an increasingly grim world.” -Musée Magazine

The exhibition book for #ICPConcerned: Global Images for Global Crisis is now available.

More photos: Books, ICP, COVID-19