Queer Ranch Festival 2025
May 2025
Skala Eressos, Lesbos
Abstract
At this year’s Queer Ranch Festival on Lesbos, we had the opportunity to create a platform for queer artists. We chose to spotlight trans* and non-binary artists working in photography — a deliberate curatorial decision in response to the global rollback of trans rights, increasing attacks on queer existence, and the loss of safer spaces. In this context, trans* artistic expression becomes both resistance and survival.
Featured Artists
📍 Delovie Kwagala (Papa De) [they/them] – Multidisciplinary artist and activist. @aconstantbecoming
📸 A Quiet Defiance: Two gender-free best friends, dressed alike in Kampala 2021. A quiet, bold stance where queerness is outlawed. The photo affirms LGBTQ+ existence in hostile environments.
📍 Mika Rotem Ben Bashat [they/them] – Visual artist focusing on queer embodiment and care. @mikabennn
📸 A close-up of their friend Nick’s post-surgery torso. A tribute to trans dignity: scars as sacred marks of truth and self-determination.
📍 Adam Joseph Carey [they/he] – Berlin-based artist exploring tenderness, kink, and trans identity. @waywrdshots
📸 A masked figure in cherry blossoms. The image blends vulnerability and fetish, questioning why softness in kink is still so radical.
📍 Collen Silumko Mfazwe [he/him] –
South African artist using photography for healing and reflection. @collenmfazwe
📸 Chulumanco (“extreme happiness”): a post-op self-portrait confronting the gap between expectations and lived reality. An invitation to honest, silenced conversations within the trans community.
Credits Photography:
whatsupnini