SOAKIE'S WAS HOME
Montalvo presents SOAKIE'S WAS HOME: an interactive solo exhibition telling the story of Soakie's, a Black gay bar in Downtown Kansas City from 1993-2004–ultimately shutdown by an $850m government-sponsored gentrification project. 20 years since the bar's closing, this exhibition explores how we use Soakie's memory to build Black queer futurity.
The exhibition is held at The Waiting Room, an artist-run gallery and studio space in the basement of the Holsum Foods building in Kansas City’s West Bottoms. Formerly Beco Gallery, it was relaunched in December 2024 by co-founders David Lieffring and SK Reed. Current co-curators Lily Erb and SK Reed, build on the organization’s 25-year history.
Nasir Anthony Montalvo is an essayist and memory worker based in Kansas City. Their work fuses archival science and popular education in pursuit of Black queer futurity. Founder of {B/qKC}, an archive of Black queer Midwestern history. Montalvo's research has appeared in exhibitions, classrooms and publications across the U.S.
The Waiting Room www.waitingroomgallery.com
IG: @itsthewaitingroom