The Gay Rub

Find location, hours, and parking information about the ONE Gallery here.

Opening reception: Saturday, February, 1, 2014, 6-9pm

ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives presents The Gay Rub at the ONE Archives Gallery & Museum in West Hollywood, a collaborative project created and organized by Steven Reigns showcasing a collection of 100 rubbings from important markers of LGBTQ history. Documenting historical signs, tombstones, cenotaphs, plaques, and monuments from around the world, the project seeks to draw attention to the LGBTQ events and individuals under-represented or under-appreciated within history. This exhibition marks the first time the rubbings have been assembled together for public display.  The rubbings themselves act as an archive of historic markers, calling attention to what LGBTQ events and individuals gets recolonized or legitimized through public commemoration.

As a term, rub can have numerous connotations. As a verb, rub can mean to upset someone: “Rub someone the wrong way.”  It can also mean truth: “That’s the rub;” or social friction: “He got a lot of rub for that.” And, of course, it can be slang for sexual activity: “To rub one out.” Most importantly, it is shorthand for the word “rubbing.” All meanings apply. The Gay Rub is an assembling of our gay truth and the rub and rubbings that come from it. The exhibition is accompanied by a special zine with information on each rubbing displayed.

For more information on this exhibition, please visit thegayrub.com.

Bio

Steven Reigns is a poet and educator. His second poetry collection Inheritance came out in 2011. Reigns organized and taught the first-ever autobiographical poetry workshop for GLBT seniors and edited an anthology of their writings, My Life is Poetry. Reigns has taught writing workshop around the country to GLBTQ youth and people living with HIV.

For more information on Steven Reigns, click here.