ARTIST STATEMENT
In the wake of ongoing attempts to erase and weaponize queerness, our community has and will continue to create spaces for us to express our joy, our sorrow, and exist in a world beyond the boundaries of a heteronormative society. I’ve photographed queer nightlife since 2003 and riding the waves of political aggression or at the best of times, political passivity, queer nightlife stays afloat. The term ‘safe space’ has been castrated into a corporate calling card that gives an ‘all people are welcome’ vibe to allies and non-allies alike. But safe spaces were not born out of inaction. They were born out of the physical need to gather among family, to shield ourselves from violence and judgement, to express ourselves in a fullness that was and is not always accepted elsewhere. These photographs were made at Energy – a night made for Black, Trans and Queer people. In this space and others like it, dance is resistance, dance is protest, dance is a refusal to be ignored and erased.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Natasha Moustache is a photo-based installation artist whose work explores identity, shared histories, and familial ties within colonized spaces. Moustache’s work reflects their experience as a first-generation, Seychellois-American, examining African Diasporic ties across oceans and manmade borders. They regularly engage strangers as collaborator-participants, utilizing portraiture, and the reimagining of domestic spaces
through installation. Moustache is interested in bringing the human community into a conversation with itself that transcends difference and emphasizes commonality. Moustache completed their MFA (2021) at Columbia College Chicago and their BFA (2004) at Simmons College in Boston, Ma. Their work has most recently been shown at the Vermont Center for Photography, the Lubeznik Center, the Hyde Park Arts Center,
the Houston Center for Photography, and the International Center for Photography. They have had residencies at Hyde Park Art Center, Center for Photography at Woodstock and Latitude Chicago. Moustache’s editorial work has been published internationally in academic literature and periodicals. They were a 2024 Newcity Breakout Artist, a 2021 MOCP Snider Prize Honorable mention and a 2020 Hopper Prize finalist.
© Natasha Leonie Moustache