WSU Exhibition Delves into Queer Experience on the Palouse

A new exhibit in Washington State University’s Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) combines artwork and archival material from across the Palouse to feature the history of, nuance, and manifestations of queer experience in the area. An opening reception for “Higher Ground: An Exhibition of Art, Ephemera, and Form” is set from 6–8 p.m. Friday in the MASC lobby on the ground floor of Terrell Library at WSU Pullman.

According to exhibit curators Josie Cohen-Rodriguez and June T. Sanders, the collected works in “Higher Ground” include ephemera, historical photographs, writings, and artwork to create a broad view of how queer life has been documented, experienced, and memorialized in the greater Palouse region.

“‘Higher Ground’ moves beyond a simplistic notion of history and representation and speaks to a more serpentine canon of life, history, and art,” they wrote. “It embraces the incompletes, the remembrances, the keepsakes, the half-truths, gossips, murmurs, and fleeting moments.”

Exhibit contributors are Lily Haven, Bryan Storm, Alec Logan Smith, Keegan Baatz, Danielle Mitten, Mars Cantrell, Laurence Haener, Lillian Adkins, Miriam Akervall, Alex Connors, Sean Sullivan, Lotus Norton-Wisla, Bridgette Costa, Mary Welcome, Sara St. Clair, Kaitlyn Grubb, Fran O’Farrell, Chlo Duttry, and Andrew Whitver.

WSU’s LGBTQ+ Center and MASC sponsored and collaborated on the exhibit, which runs through Queer History Month this October.