Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin: The Scene (Houston 1969-1981)

Devin Borden Gallery presents The Scene (Houston: 1969-1981), an exhibition of works by Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin.

The Scene (Houston: 1969-1981) consists of eight hand-cut found road maps based on photographs of Houston Drag Queens from 1969 to 1981. The eight pieces fit together to make a large map of Houston.

Based on images found in collaboration with Houston photographers, archivists, community members, and at Special Collections University of Houston Libraries, The Scene provides a glimpse into Houston’s diverse and thriving drag scene in the years between Stonewall and the beginning of the AIDS crisis, and reflects on the city’s historic and underappreciated role as a destination and refuge for LGBTQ citizens in the Gulf Coast region. Combining images of several of Texas’s most legendary drag queens (Naomi Sims, Mr. Tiffany Jones, and Donna Day) with less well known and amateur performers from the 1970s, The Scene celebrates the importance of Houston’s drag community in the LGBT rights movement.

The eight-map piece will be exhibited in its entirety at Devin Borden Gallery, along with other works by Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin related to Houston’s drag history.

About the Artists:
Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin are married interdisciplinary artists who use contemporary art to reveal connections between America’s LGBTQ histories and contemporary queer experiences. They are recipients of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, a Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and grants from the MAPFund, the IdeaFund, and the Houston Arts Alliance. The artists’ primary body of work, 50 States, is an ongoing series of installations made in response to little known queer histories from each state. For more information on this project and others visit: nickandjakestudio.com

Image: The Scene (Detail), Anonymous Queen, Mary’s Naturally 1976 (based on a photograph by Janice Rubin) hand-cut found road maps, 2017.