During the second session of HEAR+QWERE, New York's group explored fetishization and the importance of or disinterest in seeing queer representation on screen.

Inside the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in NY's SoHo District, a quorum of seven individuals participated during the open discussion.

In an exercise exploring the experience being queer and ethnic, one participant unpacked the expectation of authenticity.

“You’re constantly forced to be authentic in an environment that forces assimilation to a culture that may not be yours,” they said. “I have a challenge to be my most authentic self without feeling fetishized or tokenized.”

“By not seeing anyone who looks like me [in media], it takes extra work to find that strength to say ‘I’m gonna be strong today.’”

On media and queer celebrity culture, the importance of visible representation was mixed.

“[LGBTQ celebrity culture] annoys me because they come out, with millions of dollars in their bank account, and the response is ‘How wonderful and brave!’ No. Brave is the everyday person coming out. That’s brave.”

Snaps-worthy queer films: Saturday Church, the award-winning A Fantastic Woman, Brazil's The Way He Looks, Mala Mala — a poignant documentary on Puerto Rico’s trans community, and the acclaimed Moonlight.

However, the blockbuster Call Me By Your Name was not a hit with this crowd of cinema buffs, noting that the film was “made for straight white people.”

“When it comes to our stories, we should be the ones to tell them,” said a participant, calling action against studio executives. “It’s about the fetishization of straight white men playing queer roles. Why are we clapping for that?”

The next HEAR+QWERE sessions happen May 15th in Bucharest and May 19th in Istanbul.