Max Markwald Exhibition - "Drag Portraits"

In Max’s words, “For me, gender often feels like heaviness. I have been denied healthcare, denied health insurance, harassed in public, and had my job threatened for being queer.  At a time when gay marriage was illegal, Summit County Probate Court commissioned me for a painting to be displayed above the desk where couples sign their marriage licenses. As an out trans man I donated artwork to Valor Home, a homeless veterans shelter, at a time when there is a ban on transgender people serving in our military. Ohio State IDs have no gender option for non-binary. US Passports have no gender option for non-binary. Federal law does not adequately or explicitly protect the transgender community. And so there is this heaviness.”

Max pulled from his connection with Cleveland Kings Action Pack (CKAP) and is featuring some of its members in this exhibition.  CKAP is a radical drag organization focused on charity work and activism.  As Macho Grande puts it, “Drag is always activism. Undermining, muddling, and confronting gender is an act of defiance.”