Queer Rage, Don't touch the art, p. 68 from Indigenous Woman

In this self-portrait Gutierrez juxtaposes her deadpan gaze with a cow’s butt. Nearby, a neoclassical bust bears a smear of hot pink lipstick, as if freshly kissed, and a Mayan doll hangs in the artist’s hand. Punctuating these signifiers of gender, taste, and culture, her outfit is a sendup of femininity and decorum. Gutierrez showcases her body in precisely the kind of space that historically excluded trans people of color. This image asks us to question beauty ideals and power relations in the context of museums, which are implicated in the production of cultural values.

Gutierrez produced this photo for Indigenous Woman, an artist’s book in the guise of a fashion magazine, in which Gutierrez takes on feminine archetypes of beauty and celebrity on every page. She states, "We are conditioned to assume that physical appearance is, in fact, identity, which is often not the case. Like, as mixed transwomen, we’re often seen as male when we feel female, or have been assumed to be from another culture because our ethnicities are ambiguous… How can we work against the very power structures that propagate beauty and normalcy to the masses? …How can trans and femme-identifying folks of color gain recognition through exposure without being objectified?"