As a queer artist that was raised in a post-colonial context in Colombia, Juan Arango Palacio's identity was shaped in the shadows of North American normativity. Juan's sense of self was further confounded by a series of migrations that their family experienced in search of work and a more prosperous future. Moving through varying homophobic and misogynistic cultures in Louisiana and Texas, they have formed a disembodied identity that is not attached to any specific homeland and has always been challenged by the general norm. Juan holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a Chicago-based artist making work that addresses the culture of members of the queer and Latinx diaspora communities in the United States.
Image: Juan Arango Palacios "Night Kiss" (2019), Double-cloth dyed cotton, 16 x 60 inches.
SPARK Microgrant
