Ohio-based illustrator Jorge Teles knows how saturated your social media feed is with negativity.
Hoping to bring some positivity and inclusivity to social media feeds, he launched the Be Yourself Art Project this year in celebration Pride Month. Inspired by Teles’ love of movies and art, the project brings together a diverse group of artists. Each artist highlights a favorite queer film by creating a movie poster that is shared on social media.
Teles’ vision is to spotlight both overlooked and well-known movies with strong queer themes and characters.
“Queer films and smaller films don’t get as much attention in movie theaters. There are often movies that stay in the theater for a couple weeks, and then suddenly you cannot even find DVDs of them,” Teles said.
By collaborating with a diverse group of illustrators and designers, Teles aims to create unique, vibrant movie posters that capture the essence of these films and boost their profiles.
Throughout Pride Month, participating artists posted their artwork on X (formerly Twitter) using the hashtag: #BeYourselfArtProject.
The films represented included Moonlight, All of us Strangers, Call Me By Your Name, Dracula’s Daughter, Blue is the Warmest Color, Cruising, The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Queer representation in film
A native of Brazil, Teles has lived in Columbus for six years he credits the city with developing his career. The art scene in Columbus provided Teles with an environment to explore his creative passions and connect with like-minded individuals.
“In Brazil, I was doing architecture in college, and I quit that,” he said. “Columbus has a lot of art. There are always galleries in downtown Short North. Things like that became more my life; I started taking it more seriously, and my reach to an audience became bigger.”
Recent films give Teles hope that queer representation in film, which has been problematic in the past, is improving.
“In the 90s we were either dying because of some kind of disease or we were the villain, the butt of the joke or the comic relief,” Teles said. “Now, I think recently we’ve been getting way more movies with queer protagonists.”
According to Teles, this shift is expanding the possibilities for positive queer representation. No longer confined to secondary roles or stereotypical portrayals, queer individuals are now depicted as protagonists with rich, multifaceted lives. Queer issues such as coming out, exploring sexuality and identity and navigating relationships are now receiving a more nuanced portrayal.
International collaboration
The Be Yourself Art Project features artists from different parts of the globe, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain and Egypt.
“I knew every artist would be very particular, do their own thing, and celebrate in their own way,” Teles said. “Everybody’s so different. Even between people from the same country, you see different points of view. It offers different angles of how each culture or country sees a specific subject like queer culture.”
Some artists Teles sought out were unable to participate as in certain countries, as being associated with a project celebrating queer themes could be dangerous.
“They had to decline because they didn’t feel safe,” Teles said. “I felt like that was another reassurance that we needed this project. It’s a political act. There’s some countries where you can’t even watch those films.”
Despite these challenges, the project stands as a powerful statement of global solidarity and the importance of visibility and representation.
Through the Be Yourself Art Project, Teles hopes to bridge cultural gaps and bring people together, demonstrating that art and love are universal languages that transcend borders. 🔥
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