The sound of a pencil scraping against the screen of an iPad is the only thing that breaks the silence filling the room. Sketchy lines appear in coordinated black strokes that, together, form a person. It’s a character created from a teenager’s imagination, an expression of their interests and themself, no matter what name or identity they have.
The connections between art and those of the LGBTQ+ community have been around for quite a while, Adelynne Lu says. Creative expressions seem particularly important during these challenging political times when the rights of those in marginalized communities are threatened.
“There’s a long history of the LGBTQ+ community making themselves known through theater,” Lu says.
She recalled that “drag,” a slang term used to describe a male wearing female clothing, was “incredibly popular” in the military since there were only men there to act as females during their acts to entertain themselves.
And it’s not only theater where LGBTQ+ youth feel they can express themselves freely. Other visual arts, such as drawing and painting, are also popular ways to show creative expression.
Nakita Goodness (11), a fan artist who identifies as bisexual, says art is a good way for teenagers to explore identity, especially if they enjoy doing art as a job or for their own enjoyment.
Other teenage artists agree with this as well.
“I can imagine some of them make art to show inner thoughts and struggles with their identity and how they try to navigate life,” Rose Pak (11) states. Pak, another teenage artist, says she is still questioning her sexuality.
Lu added that art is the only way for teenage lgbtq+ artists to “feel seen and understood.”
“It also provides them with a community that supports them,” Lu says.
There are many things artists create to express themselves, like skits.
“I see skits talking about past trauma and how they would handle it now–either funny, sadly helpful, or both–purely comedy skits that entail funny scenarios that only those familiar with the community understand,” Lu added.
Artists also draw their OCs (Original Characters).
“Depending on the genre of art—for drawing specifically, I see a lot of people draw out their OCs(original characters) and their storylines,” Pak says.
Some artists draw fan art, a piece of art for their favorite show, book, game, and/or movie.
Goodness provided evidence of this, saying that she draws fan art for games like Genshin Impact and characters from Vocaloid.
