LA based artist, filmmaker, and actor, Lío Mehiel is proud to present a recent photo work from their series angels of a drowning world at GUTS Gallery in London as a part of their SAINTS & SINNERS group show running June ninth, 2023 – July seventh, 2023.

For angels of a drowning world, Lío invited photographer Wynne Neilly to affix them in Bombay Beach, California: a partially abandoned desert town on the shores of a man-made, toxic lake called the Salton Sea. The 2 entered the lake, Wynne with protective gear and Lío without, and together they created a series of images that explore the connection between the fight for body autonomy and the fight against climate collapse under capitalism.

The apparent fantastic thing about the image alongside the actual toxicity of the environment provide an apt metaphor for the mythos of “America.” The series proposes a parallel between the subjugated, marginalized body, stripped of its autonomy; and the subjugated earth, exploited for its natural resources.

The series features Lío Mehiel posing nude next to a stone bust of their chest, created by artist Holly Silius six months after Lío received top surgery. The series’ classical art motifs take heed to the history of trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) those that has been omitted of the western-colonial archive: a history that has all the time existed, despite conservative attempts to categorize TGNC people as a part of a up to date, immoral fad. The series also calls forth a future during which TGNC bodies and experiences are protected inside the archive of (art) history.

A note from the artist:

My body is a red herring. Our world is drowning under a toxic lake they usually have us arguing about whether or not I should exist. There isn’t time, I inform you. The contradiction between the apparent fantastic thing about this image and the actual toxicity of the water I’m standing in is “the message.” I resort to the mythic and the religious and the classical to manage. To process the dimensions of our catastrophe. I have a look at the image again, and I see the glory of my ancestors’ resilience. How they taught me to live and thrive even in probably the most inhospitable of landscapes. However the lake, and the sunset, and particularly what you don’t see are the purpose. The water is drowning us at the same time as it runs out. It evaporates right into a haze that obscures the horizon line, and suddenly I understand why sunsets in America’s “California” are probably the most beautiful. Under capitalism, there isn’t a up or down. Under capitalism, we forget. And that haze is toxic dust. It’s blowing into the town just off the shore. It’s keeping everyone sick. Nobody can breathe. “I can’t breathe.” Oh, Eric. I try time and again to not forget. They keep us so distracted that we forget – it’s all the identical. None of us can breathe. And I leave the water with a thousand tiny cuts on the underside of my feet, up my ankles, across my thighs, and hips. And so they don’t seem like anything, so I’m embarrassed to cry. Small but deep, they usually burn. And I’m scared they’ll get infected. I learn the cuts are from pieces of shrapnel within the water. There’s a military base nearby.

Concerning the Artist:

Lío Mehiel is a Puerto Rican and Greek transmasculine artist, filmmaker, and actor. Their practice explores the concept of transness as a philosophy, an orientation towards embodied creativity that extends beyond a person’s gender expression.

Lío began their profession as a Broadway actor in productions of The Miracle Employee, directed by Marianne Elliot, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Anthony Page.

Most recently, they were the primary trans actor to win the Special Jury Prize for Best Acting on the Sundance Film Festival for his or her lead performance within the film Mutt, by author/director Vuk

Lungulov-Klotz. Mutt could have its London premiere as a part of Sundance Film Festival: London 2023 at Picturehouse Central, running concurrently with the GUTS Gallery show.

As a visible artist, Lío’s work has been featured in publications equivalent to DAZED, Hypebae, Artnet, The Art Newspaper, GayTimes, LA Weekly, and others. Their mixed-media project Phantom Feel was chosen to be on a billboard in Latest York City as a part of Pussyriot’s public art exhibition, Patriarchy.

Lío is currently the producer and artistic director of Angels, a developing collection of stone sculptures of transgender humans. The works were first featured as a part of a pop-up installation at Outfest Los Angeles in 2022.

Collaborating Artist:

Wynne Neilly is a Canadian, queer and trans identified, visual artist and award winning photographer currently figuring out of Toronto and Prince Edward County. He’s most known for his monumental cover of TIME Magazine featuring Elliot Page in 2021 together with receiving recognition for winning Scotia Bank’s Latest Generation Photography Award in 2023.

His artistic practice, most frequently, is an investigation into engaging with the queer and trans identity, each on a person level and relationally inside the community. Wynne’s work goals to open up a conversation around how we read and interpret intimacy between queer and trans bodies, each within the subject material itself and from his gaze because the image maker. The content of his work seeks to disclose and support the notion of individuality and non-normative presentations of gender identity as political liberation and private healing.

About GUTS Gallery:

Progress lies at the center of Guts’ ethos. Because the gallery was founded, GUTS Gallery has striven to challenge and alter the normal art business model, which has only ever been a barrier to artists from underrepresented backgrounds. Acting as each a platform and a support system, Guts uplifts upcoming artists and supports the more established on their continuing journey. They provide space to those that have previously been denied it, connecting them with collectors who’re wanting to support them. At Guts they consider that true change requires ongoing evolution. Their adaptive business practices have established Guts as considered one of the leading galleries championing contemporary voices.

Guts Gallery

Unit 2, Sidings House, 10 Andre St, Lower Clapton, London E8 2AA, United Kingdom