Ria Brodell’s ongoing Butch Heroes series is a revelatory project of historic excavation and Queer reclamation. Since 2010, the Boston-based artist has conducted archival research to find records of people with whom they could recognize a personal kinship—people who were assigned female at birth, but presented as more masculine than feminine and didn’t abide by heterosexual norms. Drawing upon descriptive accounts and primary sources, Brodell creates real or imagined portraits of their subjects in the style of Catholic holy cards. This aesthetic references Brodell’s Catholic upbringing and serves as a subversive move that extols people abused by the Church during their lifetime. Every painting marks an act of care shown toward its subject’s lives, loves, and identities in a celebration of ongoing efforts from within the LGBTQIA community to recover shared histories.

Exhibition Dates: January 20 – June 2, 2024