In SF Art Show, Anti-Immigrant and Anti-Queer Policies Are ‘Nothing New’

As the new administration announces policies targeting immigrants and members of the queer community, local artists are responding with an exhibition highlighting the groups’ unity. From Feb. 15–March 16, the show NOTHING NEW will be on view at the new 465 Collective Space Gallery in San Francisco.

The collection of works by artists across the country will be the first event hosted at this location by the 465 Collective, led by BlackMaria Microcinema (Maria Judice), Alchemy Film Foundation (Madison Young), Ginger Yifan Chen, EARTH Lab SF (Beth Stephens), Lydia Daniller, and Jason Wyman / Queerly Complex.

Existing as both an installation of prints and a digital catalog, the exhibition will feature the works of over 60 immigrant and queer artists. At the gallery, poetry will be displayed alongside images of sculptures, portraits of dancers and banners with political messaging.

Co-curated by local artist Bushra Gill and organizer Jason Wyman, the exhibition, much like the issues it’s combating, has been years in the making. When asked about the show’s origin, Wyman says, “In order to talk about that I need to go back five years.”

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Wyman was working with friend and artist Rupy C. Tut to create The Immigrant Artist Network, a nationwide collection of artists. “We wanted to find ways to bring immigrants and their comrades together to talk about art,” says Wyman.

During the pandemic-induced lockdown, immigrant artists — unable to show or in some cases produce work — had trouble retaining their visas, so the collective began throwing virtual events. Over the past five years the community has stayed in contact, periodically convening and hosting salons.

This year, as President Trump took office, the network of artists began to discuss the national political landscape.

As a queer person, Wyman says they asked themself the question: “How can I work with immigrants in order to craft something that speaks to this political moment in some way, shape or form?”

When they landed on the idea of exhibiting queer and immigrant artists, exhibition co-curator Gill pointed out a huge barrier artists face when submitting work.

“A lot of times shows have some sort of theme to them,” says Wyman, lamenting how that practice causes artists to create new work or not submit to shows at all. “So we decided to play off this idea of ‘nothing new.’”

“The assault on queer and immigrant folks is actually nothing new in this country,” they add. “It’s nothing new globally, as well.”

The idea of “nothing new” applied to the work shown, as well as the application process. Artists were asked to submit works that could be shown on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper, “with no new works, and no new words at all,” says Wyman.

The goal of the exhibition is to not only show how queer folks and immigrants are coming together as an act of solidarity, but also to preserve this work for future generations.

Wyman has submitted every piece in the show to the Internet Archive, and they plan on submitting the project to San Francisco’s Zine Archive as well.

“Artists are notoriously terrible at archiving their work,” says Wyman with a laugh. But as the federal government works to erase the stories of immigrants and queer people, this work is more serious than ever, they said.

“I’ve been doing convening work for a real long time,” says Wyman, who has a background in peer exchanges and nonhierarchical leadership models. “My real hope is that we continue to deepen our conversation among groups of people that are under direct political attack, so that when we see each other in the streets, when those attacks get amped up, we know other people that we can talk to and reach out to.”

‘NOTHING NEW’ is on view Feb. 15–March 16, 2025 at the 465 Collective Space Gallery (465 S. Van Ness Ave., San Francisco). Details here.