QUEER WITCHES

queer witches

High Energy Art Project

Tatu Vuolteenaho paints portraits of queer witches. They are queers and their allies who are into spirituality.

Queer people have often felt excluded from mainstream religions and spiritual groups. Gay culture in the western world offers alcohol, sex, shopping and bitching but spirituality has been less visible. In other cultures the queers have been seen differently. They have often held intersex, androgynous people, feminine males and masculine females in high respect and the queers have been seen as religious leaders and teachers.

Tatu takes photographs first and paints from the photos. Tatu participates in workshops, rituals, healings etc. to learn more about the models. That way he hopes to get some magic into the paintings.

The project has received an art grant from The Finnish Cultural Foundation.


queer witches

Over 30 paintings have been done so far, above are the first 6: Yiorgos, Yvonne (sold), Martyn (sold), Johannes, Risto and Maisa.
The paintings are 100 x 81 cm, acrylic on canvas.


queer witches

An article in Voima from an exhibition in Madrid in Spring 2023




2 minute Video from the Madrid exhibition


Paintings have been exhibited in:
Aarni Galleria, Espoo
Instituto Iberoamericano de Finlandia, Madrid
Adlerfelt, Suomenlinna, Helsinki,
Out Of The Box Gallery, organized by Bridge, Helsinki
Hercules Nightclub, Helsinki
Seinäjoen Käistyömessut, Seinäjoki
Tillarigalleria, Nivala
Mas Amigos que Nunca, Madrid
Sissy Bag, Madrid

MORE EXHIBITIONS IN 2024 and 2025:
- Tallinn in April, digital exhibition as part of the Drag Attack party in Tallinn Bearty Festival 2024
- Akustiikka in Ylivieska, Finland in August 2024 (TBC)
- PLAY Room in Zaandam, Holland, as a part of an exhibition for National Pink Saturday Event in June 2025 (TBC)

Aim is to have exhibitions in many countries. This project can go even further: research trips to Latin America, academic studies and a book.


Who are the Queer Witches?

Tatu has QW models from The UK, Finland, Spain, Venezuela, Turkey, Australia, USA, Brazil, Uganda and Greece.
See intros of some Queer Witches who have been painted already or will be painted next


Real life magic

QW art project aims to sell the works and part of the profits go to help our less fortunate LGBT+ friends. A gay refugee from Uganda Geoffrey Rainbo has inspired us to include this aspect into the project.
Wigs for refugees or what could we do? (Article about Geoffrey)


Art Lectures

Tatu Vuolteenaho is giving art talks called "Drag Queens, Aliens and Queer Witches". They are about Tatu's colourful queer party history and why the QW art project seems like a good idea now. Tatu can give the lectures in Finnish, English or in Spanish.
See the London lecture from The Glory on Youtube


More info about the artist

www.tatuvuolteenaho.com
email: tatu-art@hotmail.com