Maddie Borkenhagen

“Humanity Over Sexuality” 

Medium: Paper and Pen

Year: 2012

Project Description: I am a strong supporter of gay rights and with Proposition 8 gaining more media attention recently I wanted to create an art intervention that would draw attention to sexuality. Although I think it is important to recognize our differences, I wanted my intervention to emphasize our commonality. I chose to write out terms that we use to label our sexuality beside empty boxes while marking the box for what unites us, our being human. I left the labels lightly lined to represent how shallow these descriptions are in comparison to our humanity, which I made boldface. My aim was to both draw attention to homophobia, which continues to be a major social issue, and to send the message that we are all human, and as such we should respect one another regardless of our sexual preference. The “sexuality banner” was posted near the VPA buildings on a street that sees a relatively high volume of traffic. Hopefully my intervention will not go unnoticed, and at the very least it garnered some attention from passerby as it was being put up.