UBC researchers curate photo exhibit highlighting 2SLGBTQIA+ youth
Queer Eyes, Queer Lives is on display until June 29
The Queer Eyes, Queer Lives exhibit saw about 700 photos submitted for reviewal. (Submitted)
Queer Eyes, Queer Lives is a photo exhibit of 2SLGBTQIA+ youths’ substance use, homelessness, and resiliencies featured at the SUM Gallery in Vancouver until June 29 from noon to 6:00 pm.
The exhibit is curated by University of British Columbia researchers Christian Barborini and Trevor Goodyear from the BC Centre on Substance Use, alongside the Substance Use Beyond the Binary Youth Action Committee for the Vancouver Queer Arts Festival.
Aiming to embrace the power of queer-oriented research and advocacy within the realm of substance use, mental health, and housing, the photo exhibit is a result of both Goodyear’s PhD and Barborini’s master’s thesis studies.
The studies led to the Substance Use Beyond the Binary Youth Action Committee being put together to facilitate the research. The committee “went into this work wanting to prioritize and centre 2SLGBTQ+ youths’ voices from the get-go,” Goodyear says.
“Trevor and I were doing [work] around cannabis use and how … it features within the gender experiences of transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming youth [across B.C.],” Barborini says.
“[The second study] focuses on queer youth more broadly who are experiencing various levels of either homelessness or unstable housing, and also in the context of having used or currently using substances [within Vancouver].”
Barborini says in the former study, many participants were found to use cannabis to achieve a sense of introspection to think outside the “confines of cis-hetero patriarchal norms and standards, and … feel more empowered to challenge those [norms.]”
“The way queer youth are using substances tells us something about the ways in which we’re failing queer and trans youth, particularly in creating space for [them] to flourish, understand, and discover aspects of their gender and sexuality in a safe space.”
The second study explores how 2SLGBTQIA+ youth are disproportionately affected by substance use and homelessness.
“One example we know is that 2SLGBTQ+ youth make up to 40 per cent of the overall homeless youth population in Canada … obviously 40 per cent of the population is not queer, so [there is] disparity there,” Goodyear says.
Research for the studies was conducted by piggybacking off of some existing studies including the At-Risk Youth Study based in downtown Vancouver, going to local youth services shelters, drop-ins, queer community services, and using social media, Goodyear says.
Altogether, about 90 young people were interviewed and contributed to the nearly 700 photographs submitted for review, where the researchers were able to have “conversations about their photos [and] develop distinct themes or thematic that were really common amongst all the youth,” Barborini says.
“We want these images to sit with people, and maybe even cause some discomfort, because a lot of these issues are hard and challenging to absorb.”
Participatory research photography allows participants to engage with the research and share experiences over a prolonged period of time to paint a fuller picture, shifting the authority from the researchers to those taking part in the research, Goodyear says.
“The three key takeaways from the exhibit are that it really showcases the social issues 2SLGBTQ+ youth are facing, how these youth are grappling with these issues and even flourishing in spite of them, and also how 2SLGBTQ+ youth can come together within a broader community to do research on these issues,” he says.
“[The exhibit] is a lot more future and action-oriented in that sense.”
For more information about the exhibit, visit queerartsfestival.com/queer-eyes-queer-lives/.
