This work consists of four paper origami envelopes, each containing collages of images and text chosen and/or written by each group member to illustrate what being LGBTQ+ means to them. This work fits into the greater context of the project, as its central theme is intergenerational dialogue and what comes of it, with the past semester as our research focus. We discussed ideas of self, and whether or not The Self (or, in opposition and complimentary to it, The Collective) is a topic we have individually delved into, and we were inspired to create work based on our differences and similarities that came up in said dialogue.

Inspirations for this work also came from our curiosity to learn further about how our understandings of ourselves and of others had been shaped and what that looks like. The folding and collage making processes were indicative of the consistent work that was this dialoguing—evening out the edges, figuring out how everything did (or didn’t) fit together was extremely representative of this semester. As such, the tactile engagement required of the origami folding and unfolding necessitates the viewer to engage in a process much like that of the artmaking and dialoguing: unpacking personal histories and interpretations to reveal deeper truths of the community and reflections on intergenerational LGBTQ+ identities and experiences.