Tender Comrade

A sprawling ecosystem of relationships and alliances. Chinese history wasn't always straight. While queerness may seem like a foreign import, its roots in China date back to ancient times. Queer pasts are actively erased so that queer futures may cease to exist. Despite constraints, queer communities endure. They call themselves tongzhi (同志), or 'comrade'. What makes queerness both 'disturbing' and powerful is that it has become a sprawling ecosystem of relationships, networks and alliances. Straight, queer or undisclosed — together, they create an exhibition that breaks all the rules defining who we are and how we are perceived.