Reclaiming names, identities, and space is at the center of Queer+Trans Fatties in New Brunswick, and their Falliday Art Market shone a spotlight on their talents and passions.
Held at Charlotte Street Arts Centre, the market vendors were all members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community while also identifying as fat. The event is intended to give the marginalized community an opportunity to showcase their work.
Aaron Beaumont, the event and organization’s founder, believes in the importance of taking up space as people and small business owners, and create the Falliday market to encourage queer, trans, and other members of the community to sell their own art and creations.
“I think it’s one way to bring the community together and especially around the holidays. It’s an important time to support the queer and trans community” they said.
After feeling discomfort around the word “fat”, Beaumont has since accepted that the word is not a bad word, it has just been made to be bad due to the amount and extent of fatphobia in the media, and in our communities.
Beaumont identifies as queer, trans, non-binary, as well as fat, and through such labels, they find community and personal identity. As an artist, they find great community and fulfillment in creating art and wanted to sell their own works, including positive collages, patches, prints and magazines, and wanted a safe space for all local queer, trans, and fat vendors to sell and share their art.
Kaity Craig, a highlighted vendor, is a painter based in Fredericton, who sells originals and prints. She identifies as queer and fat and has a special appreciation for small businesses and local markets. She believes in the importance of supporting one another, and local businesses.
“There’s a lot of supply chain stuff going on, so if we can support the local people the money kind of stays in the community,” she said.
Kaity makes her paintings with her mother, Shelley. “Basically, I’ll start a painting and then she’ll finish it, so we’re running out of space in the house. So we’ve got to do some markets like this one, so we can have some more space.”
On display, Kaity had landscape paintings, notecards, and even Christmas ornaments for the upcoming holiday season. For Kaity, markets like the Falliday Art Market bring many different kinds of people into the space and allow her work to speak for itself. The publicity is beyond valuable.
“It encourages people that live amongst us to keep doing it,” Kaity remarked.
Also present at the market was artist Ysabelle Vautour who specializes in visual arts, and Pazuzuspetals, who makes and sells resin pieces, shaped as tarot cards, ouija boards, and more. Kurt, the son of vendor Pazuzuspetals, put on his own booth that focused on commissions.
A heartwarming and family affair, the Falliday Art Market allowed 2SLGBTQ+ creators to sell their work to other community members of all identities.