“Back to Black” at HCC Art Galleries’ Now On View Public Art Festival

Tampa native and LGBTQIA+ advocate Victoria Alvarez celebrates Tampa’s LGBTQIA+ history with a new temperature-sensitive photo collage at Kress Contemporary in Ybor City during HCC Art Galleries’ Now On View Public Art Festival.

Tampa has a long history of its LGBTQIA+ community. The queer pioneers of the 1950s left Tampa with safe spaces, churches and memories that show the queer community was not just a current wave of transplants but something that holds strong in the very fabric of Tampa’s history.

Alvarez shares this history through photographs of Tampa’s LGBTQIA+ community, which she’s collected, collaged and covered in black, heat-sensitive ink. Many were taken at bars and homes, demonstrating that even though many aspects of personal freedoms have been gained, there is still a need for spaces that offer comfort and acceptance.

When cooled, the 10-foot wide by 5-foot-tall poster is completely black. It takes body heat from physical touch to reveal the images underneath. At this size, one person cannot fully reveal the underlying images by themselves before the poster reverts to its black state. This act demonstrates that, as in life, the LGBTQ+ cannot survive without constant, unwavering support from our surrounding communities. We will disappear behind the black.