Michael Espinoza (they/them) is a non-binary, multi-racial, multi-disciplinary artist whose work embodies & embraces the undone artistic practices of Queer Ancestors lost to persecution, disease, fatal sadness, & closets. They are a member of the gallery co-op Carnation Contemporary in Portland, Oregon. Currently, their practice borrows strategies from embroidery, quilting, digital media, sculpture & photography to explore sex & sexuality, intersectional identities, intimacy, the body, & contact with the dead. They have previously exhibited live performance, site-specific installation, & video; their work can be found in public art collections, digital spaces, domestic & international group shows, & the many spaces intended for queer joy. Michael is building two new bodies of artifacts and photography-based fiber work ("snapshots for future lovers" spring 2024 & "Instant Gratification", fall 2024), both about loss, survival, sexual liberation and conspiring with ancestors towards queer futurity.
Download the catalogue of available works
Recent Exhibition
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Other/Self with Allan Pichardo at Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR. August, 2023
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It's a Pleasure with Pepper Pepper & Nick Orr at Afru Gallery, Portland, OR. July, 2023.
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The Queer Conscience at The Image Flow, San Anselmo, CA. June 3 - July 7, 2023
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Breaking More Boundaries at Culture Lab LIC, Long Island City, NY, June 3-July 30, 2023
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Friends of Dorothy at The Reser, Beaverton, OR, June 3 - July 22, 2023
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A Joyous Grief: Molly Alloy & Michael Espinoza at Paragon Arts Gallery, Portland Community College, Cascades Campus. February-April, 2023
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In Sickness & In Health. Curated by Genevieve Waller & Mary Grace Bernard. Group Show at the McNichols Civic Center Building, Denver CO. June, 2022.
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Cascade AIDS Project Art Auction, “offering my body to Queer Ancestors for their purposes”. April 9, 2022, Portland, OR.
Portland Textile Month. Pop-up with Uplifted Gallery, 5404 SE 72nd Ave., Portland, OR. October 23, 2021.
Bound: a ritual for Queer Ancestors lost to AIDS. Video installation for Vicki Myhren Gallery, Denver, CO. Presented on Dec. 1, 2020 in recognition of World AIDS Day.
How to Survive a Plague, (latex condoms, latex, embroidery. 2020) New sculptural work in the group show MASK for Vicki Myhren Gallery at the University of Denver. Denver, CO. September 17-November 30, 2020.
A Place/Un Lugar Video installation for Museo de las Americas (Denver, CO), June 2020.
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queer burials: Jean Genet, Leslie Feinberg, Michel Foucault, Walt Whitman. Risk/Reward presents PAVEMENT, a pop-up performance art festival, August 4, 2018, Portland, OR.
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Reassurances I & II. Self Care: a group show about living beyond depression. November 2017, Ford Gallery, Portland, OR.
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Collaboration
I Am A Spiritual Being Because Of My Queerness. Queer Trans & Gender Variant Ancestors Project with Edgar Fabián Frías. Video, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=E_odT-hVgwo&feature=youtu.be
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Rooftop Ritual, 2019, Portland, OR in collaboration with immersive VR technology, featuring Pepper Pepper, http://thepepperpepper.com/
Publications
Perverse Bodies, edited by Genevieve Waller for Femme Salée (Denver, CO/New Orleans, LA), winter, 2021. Features a print version of the video Bound: a ritual for Queer Ancestors lost to AIDS. https://femmesalee.com/perverse-bodies/
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Mirror, Mirror, a digital zine published by Union Hall Gallery, Denver, CO. March, 2021. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c37e973f2e6b124526ae5c9/t/604bf7bd02cdbb1d9b61a1a2/1615591769426/Mirror+Mirror+Zine.pdf
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Media
We are having this conversation now, yesterday & tomorrow. Interview with Adie Steckel at Variable West. 2023
Gay Guru Live interview with Brian Madigan. March, 2023.
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YouTube Live Presentation of Queer Trans & Gender Variant Ancestors Project with Edgar Fabián Frías, August 2, 2021.
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Lecture: Emptiness in the work left undone by Queer Artists lost to AIDS. Presented in recognition of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2020 fro Vicki Myhren Gallery at University of Denver.
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Artist Panel with MASK creators for the University of Denver, November 5, 2020.
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Reviews of MASK at Vicki Myhren Gallery: The Denver Post, October 13, 2020; DGO Magazine (Durango, CO), October 28, 2020
Interview, a conversation with Museo de las Americas for the installation of A Place/Un Lugar, June 2020 www.museo.org
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Interview, The Queer Spirit podcast with Nick Venegoni. April, 2020 http://queerhealingjourneys.com/podcast/
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Live Reading: The Faggots and their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell, Anchoress Syndicate via Instagram Live, March 30, 2020.