Summary
Raquel Gutiérrez is a writer, artist and educator reflecting upon queer brown life in the arts in the Southwest borderlands. They work on a range of topics that have continued to inform their writing and teaching, including critical race theory, Queer and Latinx aesthetics and performance art in the Americas. Gutiérrez's first book Brown Neon (Coffee House Press) was named as one of the best books of 2022 by The New Yorker and listed in The Best Art Books of 2022 by Hyperallergic. Brown Neon is currently a finalist for the Lambda Literary Prize for Best Lesbian Biography/Memoir. Raquel is a 2021 recipient of the Rabkin Prize in Arts Journalism and a 2017 recipient of the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.
Their poetry, non-fiction and critical writing are rooted in explorations of movement, mobility and migration from Mexico and Central America to the United States. These explorations elaborate on Gutiérrez’s perspective as a queer and brown writer engaging histories of desire and colonization in the Southwest United States or Greater Mexico, according to José Limón. They enact these elaborations through cross-genre engagements with performance studies, ekphrasis and experimental memoirs by centering around questions concerning artistic identity, communal bonds and performativity.
Areas of emphasis: Critical Creative Writing, Art Criticism, Performance Studies
Publications:
- Brown Neon, nonfiction, Coffee House Press, 2022: 232 ms pages.
- Southwest Reconstruction, poetry, Noemi Press, 2023: 100 ms pages.
Education
- MFA, Creative Writing, University of Arizona, 2019
- MA, Performance Studies, New York University, 2004
- BA, Journalism & Central American Studies, California State University Northridge, 2002