This trans artist has been creating art from behind bars for nearly three decades
The work of Jamie Diaz, a transgender woman and artist, will be on display at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York.
Jamie Diaz, a Mexican American transgender woman, has been incarcerated at a men’s prison in Texas for the last 27 years.
Throughout that time, she’s been creating watercolor paintings that celebrate queer and trans people. Nearly a decade of her work, dating back to 2013, debuts Thursday at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York.
The exhibit, “Even Flowers Bleed,” is Diaz’s first solo art show, and it’s named for a series of still-life paintings of flowers in vases. On the flowers’ thorns, there are drops of blood.
“Everything bleeds, everything feels pain,” Diaz, 64, said in a statement about the series. “We’re not the only ones...even flowers can hurt. That’s just part of nature.”
A painting by Jamie Diaz.Jamie Diaz / Daniel Cooney Fine ArtIn addition to the still lifes, the exhibit includes portraits of Diaz and of Gabriel Joffe, her friend and co-curator of the exhibit. Most of the paintings feature queer themes or symbols.
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