Curated by Mario Elias
Devotion is rarely passive. It is the obsession that pulls you back to the studio. The love that restructures your entire way of seeing. The sacrifice placed on the altar without any guarantee of return.
Devoted: Queer Love and Other Offerings is an online exhibition curated by writer and visual artist Mario Elías, gathering international artists working in painting, photography, drawing, collage, and mixed media. Running through Pride 2026, the exhibition explores desire, community, identity, and legacy, asking a singular, urgent question: what does it mean for these artists to place their representations of Queer love in full and unapologetic view?
The visual and written offerings trace devotion in its many forms: erotic and sacred, communal and solitary, inherited and invented. A curated playlist with songs selected by each artist accompanies the exhibition — giving the work a living, sonic dimension that extends beyond the image.
Devoted is an act of Queer love as much as it is an archive. These are our altars, our bodies, and our refusal to worship in secret.
Isalu Ishii
Wild, Wild…Wild!
Mario Elias
Mario Elías (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist of Cuban and Syrian descent based in Chicago whose work spans fiction, nonfiction, photography, painting, and printmaking, often exploring themes of identity, memory, and cultural inheritance. His book Queering the Male Gaze reimagined masterpieces of the classical and modern canon through essays and self-portraiture, giving voice to the often-overlooked queer and female figures who shaped them. He is the founder of The KindaSuper Project, a philanthropic initiative providing photography and video services to underserved communities. His debut novel Beloved Disciples was published May 12th, 2026 by Amble Press.
