Queer Comics and Queer Storytelling with Archie Bongiovanni and Tina Horn

Queer Comics and Queer Storytelling with Archie Bongiovanni and Tina Horn

At a time when Queer bodies and lives are more politicized than ever before, this panel discussion brings together Archie Bongiovanni, Tina Horn, and Otis College faculty member Badly Licked Bear, three Queer storytellers who work in comic media, to discuss both the radical possibility of comics as a space for telling the whole spectrum of our own stories as well as the stories of of the nested and diverse Queer communities in which we live. Panelists will address the navigation of thorny, intersectional spaces in Queer storytelling, what it means to tell Queer stories to diverse audiences, and the critical importance of telling our own stories in a world where Queer liberation remains an incomplete and fragile project.

Ample time will be given to Q&A. All panelists will be tabling and showcasing their work.

This panel is open to the public, as well as the entire Otis community, and made possible by the enthusiastic support of the Illustration Department and a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Innovation Fund grant.


Archie Bongiovanni

Archie Bongiovanni is a comic artist, writer and zine-maker living in Minneapolis. They are the co-creator and artist of the bestselling A Quick And Easy Guide To They/Them Pronouns which has been praised by School Library Journal and was one of YALSA's Great Graphic Novels For Teens. Their other publications include Grease Bats, Yes I’m Flagging, History Comics: The Stonewall Riots, Teleportation And Other Luxuries and their recently published slice-of-life graphic novel Mimosa. In 2020 Archie got a gay watersports joke into the New Yorker, thus completing all their life goals.

You can follow Archie on Instagram @babywrist or visit archiebongiovanni.com

Tina Horn

Tina Horn is a writer, educatrix, and media-maker. She is the author of Why Are People Into That?: A Cultural Investigation of Kink (Hachette), a book based on her long-running indie fetish podcast. Tina is the creator/writer of the sci-fi sex-rebel comic book series Safe Sex /SfSx  (Image), and the cult detective thriller Deprog; she was also the host/co-writer of the phone sex podcast Operator (Wondery). Her reporting on sexual subcultures has appeared in Rolling Stone, Playboy, Hazlitt, Glamour, and elsewhere; she is the author of two other nonfiction books and has contributed to numerous anthologies including We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival, which she also coedited. Tina has lectured on adult entertainment politics and taught writing for comics at universities all over North America, and works as an on-set consultant for theater, film, and television including the dominatrix scenes of Pose. She is a LAMBDA Literary Fellow, an AVN nominee, the recipient of two Feminist Porn Awards, and holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence.

You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @TinaHornsAss and visit TinaHorn.net

Badly Licked Bear

Badly Licked Bear is an educator, storyteller, artist, and mutual aid worker. She is a Senior Lecturer at Otis College and also teaches, writes, and speaks independently on gender diversity issues and practical, transformative sexuality. Much of their activist work takes place at the intersections and parallels of the transgender and sex work communities. In this capacity, they are the current author of the PBS Independent Lens Map of Gender-Diverse Cultures and provide workshops and consulting services to institutions and civic agencies, including the County of Los Angeles and the Getty Foundation. Her comic work touches on politics, Queer realism, and contemporary art, and can be found in the numerous collections, including that of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Otis College of Art and Design. Their projects have been featured in publications ranging from ArtNet to AVN. Badly is a recent recipient of a California x Culture Bearers & Artist Disruptors Award, and is the editor and lead writer for the next issue of Pelvic Floor Whore, to be released in December 2024 as part of Scientia Sexualis at the Institute for Contemporary Art Los Angeles, part of PST ART: Art and Science Collide.

You can follow their Instagram @BadlyLickedBear and visit BadlyLickedBear.Net

Cover image courtesy of Tina Horn. 

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