Queer Arts Featured (QAF) at 575 Castro Street through August 2026 is presenting Huitzilin the Hummingbird, a Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Installation. The exhibit, co-curated by Ruth Villaseñor and Rosie Mazza, includes works by Sen Mendez, Vick Montaño, Landa Lakes, and Tanya Wischerath.
On the evening of July 17, 2026, a Sounds & Stories event attended by San Francisco Bay Times lead photographer Rink included BAAITS drummers and a performance by Lakes. A Chickasaw activist, Lakes with Villaseñor co-founded the well-known BAAITS Two-Spirit Powwow, the first explicitly Two-Spirit powwow of its kind. Lakes in 2004 also founded the Brush Arbor Gurlz, the first all-Native American drag troupe.
A standout piece at QAF is a large paper-mâché hummingbird sculpture. Delicate yet commanding, its wings appear poised mid-flutter, catching the gallery lights in rich, radiant hues. Surrounding the central figure are the works by the Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer creators, weaving a visual tapestry of resilience, sovereignty, and joy. The tactile craftsmanship of the papier-mâché bird gives the installation an intimate, living presence, as though the room itself might catch flight on the rhythm of an unseen drum beat.
In Nahuatl—spoken by nearly 2 million people in central Mexico and the historical language of the Aztec Empire—the hummingbird is known as huitzilin. The colorful birds are viewed as sacred messengers, healers, and gentle reminders that the boundary between our living world and our ancestors is far thinner than it appears.
Within the context of the exhibit, the hummingbird serves as a bridge between centuries of Indigenous gender-expansive traditions and the modern queer movement. It honors the specific, sovereign names and roles carried forward by nations like the Ohlone, Pomo, Zapotec, and Yaqui long before European terminology attempted to categorize them. Standing before the sculpture, visitors may feel the weight of stories that survived erasure, held with reverence by the hands that shaped every layer of paper and paint.
A rare opportunity presented by Queer Arts Featured is the ability to rent the gallery and gathering space, allowing guests to enjoy this installation in an intimate setting along with other works. To enquire about renting the space, which was where Harvey Milk once ran Castro Camera and centered his activism, and for more information, go to: https://www.queerartsfeatured.com/
Arts & Entertainment
Published on July 30, 2026
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