The latest Exhibition at The Haight Street Art Center in San Francisco is QUEER VISIONS. It brings together LGBTQ+ artists and institutions to explore the role of nightlife in the creation of queer community in San Francisco as well as the importance of chosen families and genealogies in the shaping of individual queer identities. Anchored by a display of pinbacks from the Stud Archive, the exhibition will look at iconic taverns and gathering places in San Francisco that have provided haven and joy for the LGBTQ+ community since the 1960s, as well as work by young queer artists considering the role of their queer families and role models in their sense of self.

Queer Visions begins with a display of posters by Todd Trexler, a gay artist who in the early 1970s made a series of posters for the Palace Theatre advertising performances by groups including the Cockettes and Divine. Pinbacks from the Stud Archive are displayed alongside historic photographs and artifacts, offering up a portrait of queer life and nightlife in San Francisco from the 1970s – 1990s. Photographer and filmmaker Lauren Tabak’s portraits of patrons of the Lexington, San Francisco’s last lesbian bar, continue the exploration of the centrality of queer bars and taverns to the formation of LGBTQ+ communities in San Francisco. The exhibition also includes a print series by historian, printer and teacher Katie Gilmartin called Pulps, irreverent adaptations of pulp novel covers that evoke San Francisco’s queer history and landmarks.

The second half of the exhibition presents work that looks at intergenerational queer relationships and identity explorations by younger queer artists. Lauren Tabak’s Gayface series is portraits of LGBTQ+ folks alongside statements about how they manifest their queerness in the world. A retrospective of prints from the Queer Ancestors Project, directed by Katie Gilmartin, features a range of images and texts that respond to questions these young artists were asked about who they see as their queer ancestors and role models – as well as the kind of ancestors they want to become. Finally, artwork by Amir Khadar created for Forward Together and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration looks at the importance of queer chosen family, particularly in immigrant communities.

Queer Visions will be on view at the Haight Street Art Center through August 15. Prints and merchandise 
based on the Stud Archive pinback collection are on sale online and in-person alongside commemorative posters.