Printmaker Johnny Willems, 24, returned to his main passion and artistic muse — wrestling — when creating works for a new exhibit in Fountain Square.
The combat sport has been a part of his life since he started wrestling at 4 years old while living in northwest Indiana. Willems said the aggressive and violent environment allowed him to explore his own manhood and sexuality by helping him realize his attraction to men.
He is one of five artists, including Andie Arana Gómez, Elena Guadiana Segovia, Avery Miller and Sheila Nayeli Clemente-Zoto, featured in the “Sopa de Letras” exhibit at Fonseca-Dubois Gallery inside the Indianapolis Liberation Center. The show features photography, printmaking, paintings and mixed media. Most artwork is not for sale.
If you go
“Sopa de Letras” opening reception
🗓️ 6-9 pm. Wednesday, June 17 (Exhibit closes July 12)
📍 Indy Liberation Center, 1619 Prospect St.
🎟️ Free
The exhibit seeks to answer two questions: What does it look like to be a Latino queer person in the Midwest? And how do we see cultural influences reflected in the artists’ work?
Willems, who is Mexican, Chilean and Indonesian, said wrestling has also helped him connect to his identity and culture through Mexican wrestling also known as lucha libre.
“It’s a struggle … that comes with internal conflicts trying to wrestle with all these different identities and also to fight for visibility and people’s rights being attacked in Indiana,” Willems told Mirror Indy.
“Sopa de Letras” translates to alphabet letter soup in English. Gómez, who is also the curator of the exhibit in partnership with Arte Mexicano en Indiana, said they chose the name as a play on the jokes made about the LGBTQ+ acronym. Though it’s a Pride Month art exhibit, they chose to “stray away” from cliches such as a rainbow flag.
Gómez, who is Guatemalan, said many Latino artists in the Midwest don’t have the same connections to their ethnic groups as they do in the South and the West and East coasts.
“It resonated with me that all of us have similar ways we connect to our culture, but we don’t have those specific pockets of immigrant culture,” Gómez said.
Willems created three risograph prints for the show, including a three-layer print of a luchador in an elaborate mask and pink sparkly spandex. He added some roses to include feminine and soft hints that he believes are present within the sport.
His prints “Intricate Rituals #1” and “Intricate Rituals #2,” feature scenes of two men engaged in an American folk-style wrestling practice. The images were taken from a wrestling guide book from the late 1970s.
Underneath the prints’ muted reddish-brown digital layers, Willems finds the presence of intimacy and queerness. He said the artwork titles reference a Barbara Kruger photograph, “you construct intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men.”
“The intention behind (the prints) are not meant to be intimate whatsoever, but when you isolate it and look at it without context it’s obviously very intimate,” Willems said.
Gómez wants the exhibit to present the diversity in queer Latino experiences.
“While we are all queer our culture and environment shapes our identity, but I think it is important to acknowledge we have different hurdles or hardships that we grapple with and we are all here for each other in the greater sense,” they said.
The “Sopa de Letras” exhibit closes July 12. Gallery hours are noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
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