'Angels of a Drowning World', by Lío Mehiel. Presented as part of SAINTS & SINNERS at GUTS Gallery

LA based artist, ﬁlmmaker, and actor, Lío Mehiel is proud to present a new photo work from their series angels of a drowning world at GUTS Gallery in London as part of their SAINTS & SINNERS group show running June 9th, 2023 – July 7th, 2023.

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

The apparent beauty of 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 hearken to the history of trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people that has been left out of the western-colonial archive: a history that has always existed, despite conservative attempts to categorize TGNC people as part of a contemporary, immoral fad. The series also calls forth a future in which TGNC bodies and experiences are protected within the archive of (art) history.

A note from the artist:

My body is a red herring. Our world is drowning under a toxic lake and they have us arguing about whether or not I should exist. There isn’t time, I tell you. The contradiction between the apparent beauty of this image and the actual toxicity of the water I am standing in is “the message.” I resort to the mythic and the religious and the classical to cope. To process the scale of our catastrophe. I look at the image again, and I see the glory of my ancestors’ resilience. How they taught me to live and thrive even in the most inhospitable of landscapes. But the lake, and the sunset, and especially what you don’t see are the point. The water is drowning us even as it runs out. It evaporates into a haze that obscures the horizon line, and suddenly I understand why sunsets in America’s “California” are the most beautiful. Under capitalism, there is no 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. No one can breathe. “I can’t breathe.” Oh, Eric. I try over and over not to forget. They keep us so distracted that we forget – it’s all the same. None of us can breathe. And I leave the water with a thousand tiny cuts on the bottom of my feet, up my ankles, across my thighs, and hips. And they don’t look like anything, so I’m embarrassed to cry. Small but deep, and they burn. And I’m scared they’ll get infected. I learn the cuts are from pieces of shrapnel in the water. There is a military base nearby.

About 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 an individual’s gender expression.

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

Most recently, they were the first trans actor to win the Special Jury Prize for Best Acting at the Sundance Film Festival for their lead performance in the film Mutt, by writer/director Vuk

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

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

Lío is currently the producer and creative director of Angels, a developing collection of stone sculptures of transgender humans. The works were first featured as 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 working out of Toronto and Prince Edward County. He is most known for his monumental cover of TIME Magazine featuring Elliot Page in 2021 along with receiving recognition for winning Scotia Bank’s New Generation Photography Award in 2023.

His artistic practice, most often, is an investigation into engaging with the queer and trans identity, both on an individual level and relationally within the community. Wynne’s work aims to open up a conversation around how we read and interpret intimacy between queer and trans bodies, both in the subject matter itself and from his gaze as the image maker. The content of his work seeks to reveal and support the notion of individuality and non-normative presentations of gender identity as political liberation and personal healing.

About GUTS Gallery:

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