Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston MA

Represent Yourself

Self-portraiture allows LGBTQ+ people of color the agency to celebrate their identity and to discover themselves through the act of expression. This exhibition, developed in collaboration with artist Daniel Corral, celebrates one queer and Latinx person’s identity through a series of self-portraits by the artist. 

Captured in the galleries at the Gardner Museum and in and around Boston, the polaroids and images on view document and celebrate Corral’s journey of self-discovery. As someone who has struggled to find his place in the city’s elitist cultural institutions and exclusive social circles, Corral creates his own space in Boston through self-portraiture.  

Services

+ Exhibition Design

+ Interpretive Content Strategy & Development

+ Project Management

Design Notes

Our use of a bold, pink triangle motif serves as a dramatic backdrop to Corral’s compelling self-portraiture. While this prominent design element visually centers the photographs featured in the exhibition and functions as a striking focal point, it also subtly references the pink triangle symbol reclaimed during the ‘70s and ‘80s by the LGBTQ+ community. This symbol has been used to label and shame in the past, but today is embraced by the community as a symbol of pride.

Also note the use of a metallic surface covering - evocative of the Museum’s Palace Dining Room silver-leaf wall coverings as well as the life-size photographic reproduction of the Museum’s iconic courtyard. This courtyard image functions as a self-portrait backdrop for visitors wishing to snap a selfie.

Daniel Corral was born in Woodland Hills, CA. He currently resides in Boston, MA where he studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Art (SMFA) at Tufts University. Corral was enrolled in the Senior Thesis Program at SMFA and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2018. His work explores street vending culture and immigration rights - based in Los Angeles, CA with a series that is on-going. Corral's work also examines queer intimacy and utilizes the Camera Obscura technique to create a portal between the private lives and public agency of each subject. 

Corral has exhibited his work at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the School of the Museum of Fine Art at Tufts University Senior Thesis Program, the Distillery Gallery, and at the College of the Canyons University in Santa Clarita California. He's been featured in Boston Art Review, Lenscratch: For Freedoms, and the Boston Globe.