Coming In | NELL PIERCE

Pierce’s Q’llage project springs from their own coming into queerness, and the solace and inspiration they have found in observing and writing about nature. 

Beginning in 2019, Pierce interviewed 40 LGBTQ2IA+ people in their local community about their “Coming In” stories - how they have and continue to come into their truths around gender, sexuality, family, and love. Pierce listened for common practices people have used to stay true to themselves in the midst of social pressure and systemic violence. They then researched how those strategies of resilience are mirrored in the natural world, with support from others with plant knowledge. Collaborating with a local artist to lead outdoor movement workshops, Pierce then invited project participants to explore how themes emerging from the interviews lived in their bodies and the nature around them. Pierce intertwined images from the workshops, plant research, and their own reflections to create compositions for large-scale collages.

Coming In at Public Functionary will be Nell Pierce’s first solo exhibition and presentation of the Q’llage project which now spans 4 years of research, interviews, and workshops culminating in 7 large-scale collages. Alongside Pierce’s artwork will be a wall of one hundred 8"x8" community collages about people's experiences with gender, sexuality, family, and love. A station in the exhibit will invite people to continue adding their voices to the wall. Public Functionary will publish an artist book in collaboration with Nell Pierce that delves deeper into the process components of the project. The book will be available for purchase at the opening reception and through the gallery during the run of the exhibit. 

JUNE 22 | 6:30pm Artist & Participant Conversation
Join artist Nell Pierce as they delve into the process and project history of Q’llage with exhibit curator, Tricia Heuring. Nell will also be joined by project participants Kay Adam, Krystle D’Alencar, Candida Gonzalez, MJ Gilbert & Minna Zhou to further explore themes in the work and the importance, complexities and ethics in holding and telling collective queer stories. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Nell Pierce (they/them) is a collage artist, muralist, and teaching artist who sees art as a powerful tool for telling both individual and collective stories. They’ve been a facilitator and teacher for over a decade, working with organizations like Telling My Story and the Speaking Out Collective, to support people of all ages in schools, community centers, prisons, and other settings to connect to themselves and feel agency in creating their own narratives through visual art and theater. They’ve been part of Studio Thalo, a collective with Olivia Levins Holden and Bayou Bay, since 2015 and the muralist collective Creatives After Curfew since 2020. With their collaborators, they strive to create art that centers justice and healing. 

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