As We Are opened during Pride month and showcased work by a number of local queer artists.
The Fourth Annual RISD Pride Gallery Show Celebrates LGBTQIA+ Community
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As We Are, the fourth annual Pride show in the ISB Gallery, opened on June 20, just in time for RI PrideFest, New England's largest LGBTQIA+ Pride celebration. The multi-departmental juried exhibition, open through July 17, celebrates queer artists across the RISD and local communities. A record number of visitors attended the opening.
“In the current political climate, it is vital to foster intersectional and inclusive community spaces that celebrate, uplift, and honor LGBTQIA+ voices,” says Ellie Fortier, the Illustration department’s MFA program coordinator and ISB Gallery manager. “The public celebration of queer life and queer art is a testament to the resilience of the LGBTQIA+ community both past and present.”
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Among the artists who contributed work is Renée Cornue MFA 27 PH, who has two photographs on view, one titled Grandma and Me and the other Grandma’s Piano. She describes the pieces as speaking to the discomfort of navigating familial secrecy and the tension that is created when one feels simultaneously seen and unseen by the very same people.
“I am honored that the public debut of this work is in a queer space,” says Cornue. “It’s vulnerable to admit that I was blind to my sexuality until very recently, and having my work accepted in this show feels like a welcoming into my new identity, which is comforting and necessary, as entering this new community means hiding aspects of myself from some people I care deeply about.”
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Recent grad Yik Heng Lee MFA 26 TX created a Jacquard-woven textile stretched over a custom-made pinewood frame titled Two Men Kissing. “Because I grew up with computers, televisions, and the Internet, I am intrigued by the way digital screens become windows to new worlds,” Lee says. “I was trying to think about repetition in textile design as a way to carry narratives—where stories exist between woven patterns and images.”
Also featured in the show is work by grad student Tauseeq Gulzar MFA 27 IL, who reimagines a queer and intimate encounter with the self by practicing wudu, an Islamic cleansing ritual. He created a large painting of a man titled Ablution of Light using both oil and acrylic paints. The staple pins and layered marks in the canvas, he notes, remain as evidence of process, exposure, and the continual remaking of the self.
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“For me, Pride is not only about celebration and extravagance,” Gulzar says. “It is also about recognizing the small, everyday moments that carry queer stories. This work emerges from one of those moments, and sharing it with others creates space for those stories to be seen, felt, and understood.”
Many of the artists showing work in the exhibition also took part in LGBTQIA+ community events including the annual RI Pride Fest and Parade. Before the walk, they gathered at RISD, where the Division of Social Equity & Inclusion hosted a pre-parade social and poster-making event.
Kaylee Pugliese / Top photo by Alexis Jones
July 2, 2026
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