About "A Community Status for the Isolated"

Opening: Saturday 26 July 16:00 – 20:00

Some communities are built on celebration. Others are born in silence, in longing, in the quiet spaces between.

In A Community Status for the Isolated, artist Luis Xertu offers a nuanced alternative to the exuberance of Pride. He paints a portrait of queer life shaped not by parades, but by memory, distance, and the soft ache of wanting to belong. Combining paint with real plants and personal garments, these artworks change over time, just like the histories they remember. They are based on old photographs of gay men on holiday, taken in times when simply being seen could be dangerous – something that is still daily reality for many.

“I didn't come into this life to represent a group or be a brand,” says Xertu. “I’m trying to make space for the parts of our experience that are often untold. The contradictions, the quiet moments, the people who never quite belonged, but are always there.”

In late July and early August 2025, Theaterfestival De Parade and Pride take place simultaneously in Amsterdam. This event at TORCH Gallery is officially part of both programmes. Painted portraits, poetry and performances bring nuance back to an increasingly polarising discussion.

About the Artist
Luis Xertu (1985) moved from Mexico to the Netherlands in 2004 and graduated from the Rietveld Academy in 2009. He was nominated for the Dutch Royal Award for Modern Painting 2019 and was awarded the Audience Award. In his previous exhibition at TORCH, 'In nature nobody would care for you either', Luis reflected on the issues of his bourgeois upbringing. In 2024, he exhibited at Podium Gallery in Hong Kong. He designs the visual campaign for de Parade since 2012.

Spoken Word Programme
Curated by De Poezieboys for Theaterfestival de Parade

Within the exhibition space, a programme of spoken word performances brings new breath into these quiet scenes. Poets and performers question mainstream images of queerness.

Sat 26 July 16:00 – 20:00

Bibi Roos, Jos Nargy

Sun 27 July 15:00 – 16:30

Jan Glas, Anneke Brassinga, Femke Zwiep

Fri 1 August 20:00 – 21:00

Yentl van Stokkum, Tante Neutebeum

Sun 3 August 15:00 – 16:30

David Alberti, Daniella Jerez, Fester Vogels