Heather Raquel Phillips

Heather’s practice prioritizes working with her local community of queer, trans, gender non-conforming, POC & kinky dissidents- holding space for their subjects to unapologetically exist. Phillips works together with her community to create collaborative conversations rooted in intersectional politics and art historical subversion, modeling a (re)construction of pasts, presents and futures. They create work committed to interrogating the art canon while shining light on their people, expressing survival, liberation and love. It's as grand as resistance. It's as simple as authenticity.

Heather will create a series of short documentaries that preserves the histories and amplifies the voices of queer and trans people of color, people of color, and women of color within the leather community. In her interviews, Heather will cover topics like microaggressions, direct racism and phobia, and liberation. A collaborative conceptual portrait will accompany each video. Heather intends to create a universal and empathetic view into her subjects’ experiences as a way to reach beyond the leather community, destigmatize fetish, and foster change and acceptance. The project will culminate in a screening and exhibition of the portraits, with a discussion to follow.