Beyond the Pale

Throughout human history, it is our proximity to one another in tribal and social groups that has shaped human culture, as well as ensuring our physical and emotional survival. Before civilization, the survival of a group of people in many ways relied on the safety of their most vulnerable members. Infants, the elderly, the infirm and the disabled; despite common misattribution of human continuity to Darwinian survival of the fittest, humanity has persisted on the basis of physiological diversity and commonplace kindness. It is variety and difference that defends human existence from disease, starvation, and the extant condition of suffering; but where there is suffering, so too is the desire for a reason why. The scapegoat is a mechanism as old as human misery, and who could be a more convenient actor than those fundamentally different from the majority?

 

Queer as Scapegoat

Queer existence is tied inextricably with human history; throughout time, the tolerance of same-sex intimacy and gender nonconformity by a cis-heterosexual majority has been in constant flux based on the mores and values of every era. The only true consistency in this history is queerness itself; it is a disruption of normativity, an organic reflection of the always-shifting natural order to suit an environment of perpetual change. The survival of a species relies on the safety of its most vulnerable members; and despite divisions sown between those odd and those mundane, the subjective experience of those outliers is colored richly by a life apart. We are flesh from a greater body of human existence, and so too do we suffer common misery, celebrate good fortune and miracles, mourn our dead, and leave evidence behind of the lives we lived. But it would be untrue to say our minds and hearts are not impacted by our isolation. It can be argued that subjugation heightens both experiences of pain and pleasure, confusion and clarity. A life carved out beyond the pale of what is known creates a greater depth of hue and color.

 

Beyond the Pale

To act or behave “beyond the pale” is to live or conduct oneself in ways considered unsavory, taboo, or beyond common understanding. Queer life has been stained by oppression and violence, past and present, resulting from the fear of the other; the shame of misunderstanding; an unwillingness to behold that which is new or different. Queer subjective experience can be described as a riot of color and form, as the tension and friction of life apart clashes with the pride and honor it may bring. There is no known way to neatly categorize or quantify human feeling, it is as elusive as death, or life itself. This exhibition is not an attempt to define or restrict the limits of queer emotional expression. On the contrary, it is intended to offer evidence for the nuance of feelings that shape our lives, as proof we lived here and felt some way about it. As the feelings recognized most widely in facial expressions are rage, grief, and joy, we have formulated the basis of our exhibit on these emotions though they are in no way meant to limit the capacity of queer emotional expression. The origins of our artifacts range across time, from the 1960s to 2017. In material they encompass periodicals to spoken word poetry. This exhibit serves as a testament to the lives and experiences of queer people, those ancient and modern, whose names we know or those lost to time. Whether those we read about in history books or hear about on the news, these artifacts were carefully selected to show the multitudinous emotions experienced by queer people in times of comfort and chaos alike.

 

“Beyond the Pale” was organized by Ansley Rickson, Leah Frankel, Kathryn Wise, Blake Vance, and Ruáin Rosenberg. Click here if you want to read more about us.