Since 1970, LGBTQIA2S+ people and allies have come together during June for marches and other events recognizing their contributions to history and our communities. Celebrate Pride Month by visiting these and other works by LGBTQIA2S+ artists at TMA!

Zilia Sánchez was born in Havana, where she later attended art school and exhibited her early work with Los Once (The Eleven), Cuba’s first group of abstract artists. After Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the Communist Party’s homophobia and hostility toward abstract art led Sánchez, who identifies as a queer woman, to move to New York City. In 1971 she moved to Puerto Rico, where she now lives and works.

In this intimately scaled rectangular canvas with its muted tones of beige, black, and white, Sánchez includes a rounded protrusion toward the work’s base, blurring the distinction between painting and sculpture. Sánchez’s work often alludes to the body, and Sin título suggests a protruding stomach, the rounded form giving the work a softness and sensuousness. 

Zilia Sánchez (born 1926), Sin título (Untitled). Acrylic on stretched canvas, 1962/1971/1990.15 x 25 x 8 in. (38.1 x 63.5 x 20.3 cm). Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, 2022.10. On view in Gallery 7.