KANSAS CITY, MO – Local artist-activist Nasir Anthony Montalvo is launching one of the world’s first and only Black queer archives—right in the heart of Kansas City. Co-produced with Zach Frazier and in partnership with The Kansas City Defender, {B/qKC} is a Black queer archive that is actively centering local community members and their stories over institutional ownership. And now, after months of research, fundraising, digitization, and infrastructure-building, Montalvo is launching a city-wide exhibit experience to view the archive’s inaugural collections provided by three Black queer Kansas City legends: Gary Carrington, Tisha Taylor and Starla Carr.
Dubbed “{B/qKC}: The Volume_2 Exhibit,” the experience will bring together five (5) low-barrier-to-entry locations who will host material from {B/qKC}’s second volume of research–which tell the story of Soakie’s, a former Black gay bar in Downtown Kansas City from 1993 – 2004.
An interactive, low-barrier-to-entry experience
- Date: April 1st – 30th
- Locations + hosted collections/installs:
- BLK + BRWN.
- tisha_taylor_collection
- 104 W. 39th St.
- PH Coffee
- starla_carr_collection
- 2200 Lexington Ave.
- Waterbird Coffee
- supplements_+_videos
- 1200 McGee St
- Astringent Press
- welcome_to_soakie’s
- 2370 Independence Ave
- Café Corazón
- gary_carrington_collection
- 110 Southwest Blvd.
- BLK + BRWN.
- Hours: subject to each location’s hours.
This multi-location exhibition is part of the second volume of {B/qKC}: launching itself as a standing, Black queer archive and beginning by telling the story of Soakie’s, a former Black gay bar in Downtown Kansas City from 1993 – 2004. Audiences will find the inaugural collections of {B/qKC} displayed across three locations from Montalvo’s groundbreaking altar exhibits in 2023–with new additions of supplemental, grounding information at Waterbird Coffee, and a large-scale, print installation at Astringent Press.
This exhibition challenges audiences to engage with Black queer past by traversing our present day spaces–ultimately leading audiences to contend with one question once finished, “what will, then, be our future?” But above all, this exhibition is intentionally placed outside of the institution (universities, galleries, museums) in creating low- barrier-to-entry ways to engage with history, and acknowledging {B/qKC}’s roots in abolitionist praxis.
Audiences are encouraged to slowly traverse this experience over the course of April 2024. Explore over days or weeks, and start/end with any locations they see fit.
One of the world’s inaugural Black queer archives, right in Kansas City
{B/qKC} stands as one of the world’s only Black queer archives, aiming to educate and liberate the histories of Black LGBTQIA2S+ Kansas Citians from erasure wrought on by racism and homophobia. In an era where bigoted legislation threatens to erase our shared histories, {B/qKC} serves as a beacon of resistance–offering didactic, interactive artifacts that educate, challenge, storytell, and inspire.
Before becoming an archive, {B/qKC} initially began as a research project “liberating” Black queer artifacts from local institutions by widely sharing their existence–the project produced groundbreaking research on Kansas City’s first-documented Black drag queens, a social club for gay men of color in the 80’s-90’s, and a public access gay and lesbian variety show, “Out There.” These pieces were widely publicized through a series of public-facing, low-barrier-to-entry exhibits aptly titled “Volume_1.” Community response was overwhelmingly positive; and Black queer eldership voiced the need to “tell our own stories.”
Now, {B/qKC} is collecting and digitizing Black queer community’s photos, documents and ephemera directly and sharing these histories in unique, innovative ways. Most recently, {B/qKC} held a sold-out Launch Party where inaugural shareholders were paid reparations; and hosted inside of Charlotte Street’s Art Gallery as part of the “Miss/They Camaraderie 2024” exhibit.
All of this research, photos from the exhibits, and more can be viewed at {B/qKC}’s landing page: www.kansascitydefender.com/bqkc.
More than an archive; Montalvo’s wish for Black futurity
Montalvo hesitates in simply calling {B/qKC} an archive. While recognizing that at its core, this is what {B/qKC} is meant to do–that is, to preserve history–Montalvo more readily sees {B/qKC} as a tool for Black liberation. Interpolating their previous works in abolition, radical protest, accessible design and community organizing, Montalvo hopes to ultimately use {B/qKC} as an “educational jump-off” for local organizers and Black queer community overall.
“Without knowing more deeply and intimately the places and spaces we reside in, and the peoples who once resided there, we have no ways of knowing how exactly our local institutions must rectify their harm,” Montalvo said during their speech at {B/qKC}’s Launch party on March 1st. Montalvo followed by reflecting on how Soakie’s was ultimately shut down by Cordish Companies, the development company behind today’s Kansas City’s Power & Light District. Montalvo hopes that by asking audiences to contend with these more-troubled aspects of Kansas City’s history beyond the glitz and glamor of what it means to be Black and queer, it will move KC’s Black queer community further toward a space of safety and justice.
Audiences looking to engage with this project more deeply are invited to view a portion of the exhibit and meet Nasir Anthony Montalvo during Café Corazón’s First Friday event in the Crossroads from 5pm – 9pm. Audiences will also be able to indulge in food, drink and shop guest vendors. No tickets needed. Find more info on the Crossroads’ official website.
Images of {B/qKC}: The Volume_2 Exhibit
Captured by Jade S. Williams.
