KCAI graduate Jack Olander Brooks’ 4 x 6-foot mosaic representing historical queer Kansas City moments from 1855 through the early 2010s is on permanent display inside GLAMA’s reading room on the third floor of UMKC’s Miller Nichols Library. (photo by Christopher Leitch)
What came before us can feel distant, tucked away in attics and archives. However, remnants of history are imprinted on our lives today — from the rights we have that were painstakingly fought for to the countercultural movements that have become cherished mainstays.
Archives are readily available resources, meticulously maintained and open to be explored. Artist and recent KCAI graduate Jack Olander Brooks found this to be the case when he came across the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America (GLAMA) through his Queer American History class taught by Stuart Hinds, GLAMA archivist and curator of Special Collections & Archives, University Libraries – UMKC. This class opened Brooks’ eyes to the long history of queer people on the American continent, with records dating back to the fur trade.
For his KCAI thesis project, Brooks decided to make his own visual historical marker centered around Kansas City’s LGBTQ+ history. As he explains his draw toward historical markers, “If you look at the construction, the text is not just painted on. It’s cast into the metal piece, so that’s going to be a really long record that will outlive whatever’s on your phone or paper materials.” Clay has similar staying power. Brooks adds, “Every time I make something out of clay, I think about it as an artifact. I know that whatever I’m making will definitely outlive me.”
To that end, he fired and glazed tiles representing numerous historical queer Kansas City moments from 1855 through the early 2010s in collaboration with Hinds. “Working with Jack was a straightforward collaboration that yielded wonderful surprises,” says Hinds. “We identified moments of queer history and their representations, and he took those ideas and came back with this breathtaking interpretation — it was remarkable!” The collaboration has come full circle as the 4’ x 6’ mosaic is now on permanent display inside GLAMA’s reading room on the third floor of UMKC’s Miller Nichols Library.
Because Brooks worked on the mosaic for a full semester, he was able to home in on his style as an artist. Rather than mapping out the full mosaic, Brooks designed it in units so that it could be arranged and rearranged like Legos. “If I’m creating the process, I can come up with the rules I want to set for myself. I want to be intuitive and mix different styles just because that’s how I naturally work,” says Brooks. He experimented with different sculpting styles as he continued through the project, including some tiles that were meticulously smoothed and others that were gestural and emotional. The larger, major event tiles are surrounded by smaller, symbolically relevant tiles.
While Brooks was moved by the entire process, two moments stuck out in his mind: 1974’s founding of Naiad Press and 1987’s forming of ACT UP KC. Naiad Press was an exclusively lesbian publication founded by Barbara Grier and her partner Donna McBride. Brooks found a photo of the two sitting on a couch together wearing identical glasses, which he sculpted into the mosaic. This image of comfortable domesticity from a culturally subversive couple warmed his heart. ACT UP KC was the local chapter of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, which marked a time when the queer community came together to support each other amid devastating tragedy. Brooks realized, “History is not a stagnant thing. It didn’t come out of nowhere. We had to fight for it.”
Brooks hopes viewers of the mosaic will be inspired to explore GLAMA further — to delve into the historical moments that have shaped LGBTQ+ history and history as a whole. Hinds adds, “It’s a thrill to see the unanimously awestruck reactions to Jack’s piece. Visitors who engage with it are intrigued, amazed, and captivated by the detail in the overall work, and to a person they are visibly impressed with what it represents and that it exists. We are so honored to give the piece a long-term home.”
