All Posts By

Josh Inocéncio

Return to the South: Photographer Ransom Ashley Chats Re-embracing Louisiana Roots

Posted on March 11, 2019

Like so many southerners, photographer Ransom Ashley, 26, had to leave his hometown before fully embracing his roots. While growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, he was bullied for being “different.” As a gay adolescent, he turned to art as a way to channel his isolation. “I started photography as an outlet to navigate my feelings about who I was,” remembers Ashley. “It became my version of a diary.”…

Less is More: The Joyful Queer Relief We Need Is Andrew Sean Greer’s Satirical Hit

Posted on August 1, 2018

A photo of Andrew Sean Greer novel Less.

While visiting the new and queer-friendly Interabang Books this June, I perused the Pride Month display and found a few signed copies of this year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Less by Andrew Sean Greer. The Dallas-based bookstore is making a name for itself by frequently hosting author-centered events.…

Appalachian Pit Stops: Where to Eat on Kentucky’s I-75 Corridor

Posted on July 10, 2018

A photo of Josh Inocencio at Wrigley's in Kentucky.

While much of Kentucky tourism centers around the annual Kentucky Derby in Louisville and the popular bourbon distilleries that speckle the state, there are booming smaller towns right off Interstate 75 that are revitalizing their downtowns and embracing the farm-to-table movement. Driving northbound on I-75, travelers might easily miss Corbin, London, Berea, Richmond, and even Lexington.…

Daring Dreams: Dark Circles Contemporary Dance Explores Gay Identity in 2018-19 Season

Posted on June 25, 2018

A photo of Dark Circles Contemporary Dance.

Joshua Peugh, the artistic director and co-founder of Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, is quickly transforming Texas into a site of experimentation with bold pieces that explore gay identity, among other relevant themes.…

‘Southernmost’ Review: Times Are a-Changin’ in ol’ Appalachia

Posted on May 24, 2018

A photo of Southernmost author Silas House.

In his newest novel, Southernmost, Silas House confronts a changing Appalachia where even Asher Sharp—a fundamentalist preacher in Tennessee—questions his rigid moral beliefs, years after his brother comes out as gay and flees to Key West. And while House has a canon of work that candidly depicts Appalachian people (including the New York Times’ best-selling Clay’s Quilt), this is his first novel to tackle openly gay characters.…

Muscle Panic: Interdisciplinary Artist Fuses Sports, Queerness at Art League Houston

Posted on February 23, 2018

A photo of Muscle Panic at Art League Houston.

Situated next to Inversion Coffee in Montrose, Art League Houston is now presenting Muscle Panic, an interdisciplinary piece developed by Toronto-based artist Hazel Meyer. “I make installations that performance happens in and, within these installations, there are sculptures that also function as tools and as props,” says Meyer, describing her work. “I’m interested in the slipperiness of these objects, and in the tools that extend us.”…

Take Risks, and the Audience Will Appear: Catastrophic Theatre Premieres Brave Queer Play

Posted on February 12, 2018

A photo of The Catastrophic Theatre's 'Leap and the Net Will Appear.'

Rarely do theatres in Houston offer rich experimental plays that depart starkly from the theatrical canon. But The Catastrophic Theatre, building upon its tradition of producing work that “will destroy you,” is premiering a play that is experimental and queer. The company, housed in the MATCH through the facility’s residency program, has consistently produced harrowing works, from Sam Shepard’s Buried Child to Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. But Leap and the Net Will Appear, which premiered on February 9 and runs through…

Spectrum South Snapshot #4: Laura Bullard and Kayla E.

Posted on February 5, 2018

I identify as a queer, southern, Indigenous American woman. My father is Indigenous American and my mother is of European descent (my maternal grandmother would want you to know that she's Czech and makes an excellent stuffed cabbage). I am an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, a tribe that is currently and actively fighting a 130-year-old battle for federal recognition.…

Sanitized or Subtle? ‘Call Me by Your Name,’ ‘Moonlight,’ and Queer Male Sex in Cinema

Posted on January 24, 2018

An image from the queer film Call Me by Your Name.

Like the Oscar-winning Moonlight last year, another gay drama has cut into mainstream cinema and garnered Academy Award buzz. Based on the novel of the same title, Call Me by Your Name is a film set in 1980s Italy, following 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and his fleeting summer love with Oliver (Armie Hammer), a graduate student in his mid-20s who works temporarily as an archaeological assistant with Elio’s professor father at their decadent villa.…

Spectrum South Snapshot #3: Shane Farmer

Posted on January 15, 2018

A photo of queer South Carolinian Shane Farmer

I think most people would look at me and believe that I am a plain boring boy next door. I identify as a white, gay, cisgender male. However, I find that my skin features sometimes throw a lot of people off—my darker complexion and other characteristics cause many people to mistake me for Hispanic/Latin (I’ve literally been asked if I’m “like white white”). I grew up in a working-class family where my mom dropped out of high school to take…

Older Posts

Josh Inocéncio

spectrumsouth