Trans & Gender Expansive Art Showcase 2025

Alina Balseiro (They/Them)

the wire only goes so far

Archival Inkjet Print

Alina Balseiro uses photography and sculpture to empower their collaborators in the lgbtqia+ community. as they explore the social codes and cues within this group, they depict the common experiences of Queer individuals. Alina interweaves concepts of vulnerability, identity affirmation, balance and care within relationships, and found communities in their work. Alina’s delicacy when collaborating with friends and strangers shows their ability to create spaces that welcome authenticity of lgbtqia+ experiences.

Often maneuvering between varying perspectives of viewers, Alina balances the shifting weight of representation, education, and normalization. Their photographs depict the ways that the lgbtqia+ community wants to be seen leave a multidimensional impression on those that access their work. As they continue making, they build deeper connections on a larger scale with Queer individuals seeking to share their narratives. Alina is committed to generating ethical making processes and maintaining the comfort of their collaborators.

the wire only goes so far is for sale for $800 each. Contact the artist at alinabalseiroart@gmail.com.

Alina Balseiro (They/Them)

no razor needed

Archival Inkjet Print

Alina Balseiro uses photography and sculpture to empower their collaborators in the lgbtqia+ community. as they explore the social codes and cues within this group, they depict the common experiences of Queer individuals. Alina interweaves concepts of vulnerability, identity affirmation, balance and care within relationships, and found communities in their work. Alina’s delicacy when collaborating with friends and strangers shows their ability to create spaces that welcome authenticity of lgbtqia+ experiences.

Often maneuvering between varying perspectives of viewers, Alina balances the shifting weight of representation, education, and normalization. Their photographs depict the ways that the lgbtqia+ community wants to be seen leave a multidimensional impression on those that access their work. As they continue making, they build deeper connections on a larger scale with Queer individuals seeking to share their narratives. Alina is committed to generating ethical making processes and maintaining the comfort of their collaborators.

no razor needed is for sale for $800 each. Contact the artist at alinabalseiroart@gmail.com.

Cara Lew (She/They)

A Sweet Treat

Digital Illustration

My work explores all the themes listed above by staying authentic to myself. I can find inspiration in my daily life, surround myself with people, and make connections with not only people but also places that I have connections with, as well as new ones. My art is not only to represent who I am but also to find people seeking joy, safety, and their voice.

A Sweet Treat is for sale ($30-$50). Contact the artist at theshybokchoy@gmail.com.

Drew Shechtman (They/He)

Sharps

Copper, brass, enamel, cast bronze, resin, paint

Drew is a multidisciplinary artist whose work centers around the human form, focusing on themes of disgust, abjection, and the grotesque. Their work exists in a space that honors the perverse and distorted, bridging the gap between attraction and repulsion, in order to investigate the body as an estranged entity. Drew’s practice is also heavily informed by his queer and trans identity, reflecting his personal relationship to corporeal existence. These themes often manifest as an exploration of malleability and ambiguity, which in turn entangles the familiar and the unsettling.

Not for sale.

ELAkidd (Jimmy Yu) (They/Them)

Dragon’s Dream

Comic/Zine

Jimmy grew up in Shanghai. Ela grew up in North America. They’re both Chinese. Home is nowhere and everywhere.” My name is Jimmy and/or Ela, and I am a bilingual queer artist who’s interested in the intersectionality between being Chinese, being an immigrant, and being a queer person. I am currently a third-year student at the SMFA. 

Two copies of Dragon’s Dream are for sale at $12 each. You can purchase one at https://ko-fi.com/elakidd.

Guadalupe Campos (They/Them)

Saskia’s

Oil Paint on Wooden Panel

not for sale

Guadalupe Campos is a queer multidisciplinary visual artist from Chicago currently based in Boston. Campos predominantly works with drawing, hair as sculpture, and video. Their practice seeks to represent queer and trans experiences outside of the act of defining and identifying and instead through the community’s relationships with one another. Through defining queerness and transness we bind this fluid community to the rules and judgments of heteronormativity and colonialism. Campos teaches visual arts and woodworking to youth through the Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts.

Mel Salvat (They/Them)

the child

Watercolor on Paper

not for sale

mel salvat is a trans, queer, first-gen latine artist, equipped with a BA in Biology with a specialization in Ecology & Conservation from Boston University. Their work exclusively portrays LGBTQ+ people and incorporates pressed leaves and flower petals to promote ideas of queer ecology: in essence, nature is (and always has been) queer, and queerness is natural! Mel currently works for BU Libraries. Follow them on Instagram @melaniesalvat to see more of their art & learn more about nature!

Mel Salvat (They/Them)

ninety-four degrees in miami

Poetry

not for sale

mel salvat is a trans, queer, first-gen latine artist, equipped with a BA in Biology with a specialization in Ecology & Conservation from Boston University. Their work exclusively portrays LGBTQ+ people and incorporates pressed leaves and flower petals to promote ideas of queer ecology: in essence, nature is (and always has been) queer, and queerness is natural! Mel currently works for BU Libraries. Follow them on Instagram @melaniesalvat to see more of their art & learn more about nature!

Ming Li (Ari) Wu (He/They)

Oración Trapera | Un Pasito Pa’Trá’

Poetry

not for sale

Ming Li (or Ari) Wu is a queer Chinese-Puerto Rican poet, math teacher, and ethnic studies scholar from Huntsville, Alabama, by way of Reno, Nevada. Both their academic work and their poetry deal with themes such as queer and trans precarity, belonging, and futurity, especially in Latinx contexts. Ming Li is an alumnus of the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival, the National YoungArts Foundation, and TEDxUniversityofNevada. His poem “Maric***” was recently published in the Fall 2024 issue of 𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴: 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 from Smith College and Duke University Press. They attended Harvard College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ming Li currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts with his two partners and their cat. They enjoy playing Dungeons and Dragons, cooking noodle soups, tricking people into solving math problems, and playing guitar.

Ming Li (Ari) Wu (He/They)

Un Pasito Pa’Trá’

Poetry

not for sale

Ming Li (or Ari) Wu is a queer Chinese-Puerto Rican poet, math teacher, and ethnic studies scholar from Huntsville, Alabama, by way of Reno, Nevada. Both their academic work and their poetry deal with themes such as queer and trans precarity, belonging, and futurity, especially in Latinx contexts. Ming Li is an alumnus of the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival, the National YoungArts Foundation, and TEDxUniversityofNevada. His poem “Maric***” was recently published in the Fall 2024 issue of 𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴: 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 from Smith College and Duke University Press. They attended Harvard College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ming Li currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts with his two partners and their cat. They enjoy playing Dungeons and Dragons, cooking noodle soups, tricking people into solving math problems, and playing guitar.

Mouyuen 無元 (They/She)

Existence

Perler Beads

not for sale

Mouyuen (she/they) is a Chinese-born, Boston-raised transfeminine agender multidisciplinary artist. Some of their art forms include poetry, typography and acoustic music. They use art as a medium to explore and reflect culture, gender, and community.

P. Christopher Capp (He/They)

Dandelion

Digital Illustration

P. Christopher Capp is a cartoonist and illustrator currently pursuing an MFA in Visual Narrative at BU. He is deeply passionate about storytelling, with a strong focus on the importance of representing queer identities and the power of resilience. Art serves as a powerful medium for expressing our emotions, identities, and stories in countless beautiful ways and has the ability to unite communities, and as an artist, Capp is committed to fostering an environment where individuals can continue to grow, express themselves, and share their unique narratives.

Prints of Dandelion are for sale at $20 each. Please contact the artist at capppeyt@bu.edu if you are interested in purchasing.

Tia Sky (They/Them)

Effervescence

Photography

Tia Sky (they/them) is a queer, nonbinary, and neurodivergent artist whose work explores identity, joy, and the ways we carve out space for ourselves in a world that often tries to define us. Through storytelling and mixed media, they bring to life moments of connection, care, and resistance. Tia is also a senior studying Sociology and Community, Power, and Queer Futures at Boston University.

Efferevescene is for sale ($5 for 4×6 in prints). Contact @tiaxsky on instagram.

Truck Schachtman (They/Them)

Boy Ride

Oil Paint

I once had someone tell me there’s an undeniable element of Americana in my work, to which I replied, “Of course.” How else am I supposed to create? This is the lens I have looked through since birth: the bleakness of the Kansas Flint Hills, the beauty in the derelict barbed wire wrapped fence posts, the green algae in the sewer runoff. I have been cobbled together by Americana, and in those stone gaps are where I draw inspiration: the liminality of personal transition, of bodies passing through time and space.

Truck Schachtman (They/Them)

 Smokin’ Hot!

Oil Paint

I once had someone tell me there’s an undeniable element of Americana in my work, to which I replied, “Of course.” How else am I supposed to create? This is the lens I have looked through since birth: the bleakness of the Kansas Flint Hills, the beauty in the derelict barbed wire wrapped fence posts, the green algae in the sewer runoff. I have been cobbled together by Americana, and in those stone gaps are where I draw inspiration: the liminality of personal transition, of bodies passing through time and space.