Lonely Queer

"Lonely Queer" is a linocut print that captures the fleeting image of a ghost framed within the nostalgic lens of a Polaroid. The ghost, delicate yet defiant, embodies the experience of queerness in isolation—an existence often unseen yet deeply felt. The work explores the ways queer individuals must shape-shift, adapting to environments that often resist their authenticity.

The ghost symbolizes both invisibility and resilience. In its liminality, it speaks to the quiet ache of growing up queer in spaces where conformity is the expectation and divergence is met with silence or rejection. The Polaroid—a device meant to memorialize fleeting moments—becomes a portal, freezing the ephemeral yet hauntingly permanent nature of this solitude.

Through the stark contrast and raw texture of linocut, the piece mirrors the harshness of rural life and the labor of self-carving one’s identity. The uneven lines and imperfections reflect the jagged, unpolished reality of navigating a world where belonging feels spectral, like a ghost haunting spaces where it cannot rest.

Lonely Queer invites viewers to hold space for these feelings of loneliness and transformation. It honors the resilience of queer individuals who, like ghosts, linger and persist despite being unseen, shaping their own narratives in defiance of erasure.