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‘safe up here with u’: Finding Peace in Created Sanctuaries
safe up here with u, the new exhibit by DJ Amago, portrays the world of queer people behind closed doors when they are allowed to relax. Showing at Gravity Art Space until July 6, Amago uses watercolor and colored pencil on paper to create a vision of queer domesticity mostly left unseen from the public.
The idea of “safe spaces” has mutated to the point of inanity. Depending on the person you’re talking to, it may even be mocked as a show of weakness. But Amago takes us back to the core truth that everyone does need a space to be themselves, unburdened with the expectations of the world, something not normally available to queer individuals.
“His representations may be of mundane spaces but the people within them are the ones who create meanings and memories that make a space more than just a space; a sanctuary,” Dennis Bato said in the exhibit write-up. “We wear a mask to conform [to society]. People abide by these standards to be accepted in society but in reality, all of us just want to have a place to belong to, a place where we fit in, a place where I’m safe up here with you.”
What’s the Meaning of Safe Spaces?
The paintings for safe up here with u embarks on the creation of domestic bliss in all its naked purity. Literal nudity, really, as the individuals depicted lie down and pose with nary any clothes outside of their underwear. At times, only their thighs and hands and arms cover their genitals—and not even that in some of the works.
The nudity is stark but unsurprising. The artist doesn’t highlight it so much as they recontextualize it in a wholesome ordinariness. For paintings like “Saturday” or “Pillow Talk,” the stroke work is soft and gentle, betraying a love and tenderness in the depiction of the characters.
Most of the works are brightly painted, and yet it’s not necessarily interrogative. Rather, it highlights different features of the body: the red blush of the skin, the soft straggling of hairs, the delicate staring of the eyes. Looking at the pictures, the figures within them feel relaxed, away from a critical world. A refreshing sight, especially as the works depict them within a domestic milieu, in bedrooms and living rooms cozying up together.
The Space to Feeling Desire
More than that, safe up here with u gives Amago an opportunity to depict queer desire with an earnest, innocent gaze. It doesn’t attempt the “uwu” cutesy vibe of queer art on the internet, but it also doesn’t push toward overt sensuality. Instead, the artist paints these portraits of desire in all its mundanity, moving away from eroticism and leaning towards comfort.
Not that the images couldn’t be erotic. Something like “Safe Up Here With You” or “Warmer 1-6” depicts sexual relationships in a stark fashion, and the latter works show two people in the midst of the act. But the soft lens approach leans more towards tasteful, portraying the gentleness of desire for someone you trust. “Linya 1-2” puts this metaphor forward visually: it’s the longing and release found in a person you find your home in.
safe up here with u shows what the idea of safe spaces means for those who need it. It’s never a walled-in garden or a place of exclusion. Rather, safe spaces are where the burden of society feels lighter and the being of existence finds freedom. And DJ Amago depicts that safety with intimacy and innocence, finding peace within the self-created sanctuary within.
Related reading: ‘Extasis Forever’: Representing Mirrors to the Queer Experience
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