‘Heartline’ Art Installation Tells a Rochester Timeline
I had the pleasure of spending time with artist Carrie Gault, an artist from Virginia who recently completed an installation piece that tells some of the story of Rochester’s LGBTQIA+ communities.
From the drag panel of ‘Heartline.’ Credit: From ‘Heartline’ installation by Carrie Gault.
Carrie and her partner, Donna Cole, were in Rochester in mid-July for the opening of the outdoor piece, called “Heartline,” which is on permanent display in the courtyard of the Union Square residential and commercial building at 275 S. Union St.
Donna Cole, left, and artist Carrie Gault, with Dr. Bill Valenti. Provided photo.
The work is interesting on a couple of layers. Artistically, she depicts a heartbeat, which is laid on mirrored glass that runs the length of the wall and connects the ceramic tile panels.
Then there are the stories told in the tile panels themselves. Carrie uses words and images to capture the past 50 or so years of gay life in Rochester. The panels aren’t in chronological order, which makes you think as you see them.
It’s one experience to view the entire installation from about 8 or 10 feet back. It’s another to come up close, read the words and look at the photographs that she’s transferred to the tiles. Sometimes multiple themes are shown on one tile.
We all have our own views of history, so when you talk about multi-generations, there are different things for different people. But I want to give you some of what are my highlights of the installation.
The tile depicting the dance bar Jim’s, a slogan from Rosie’s bar, and in the upper left, the building that housed the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley. Credit: From ‘Heartline’ installation by Carrie Gault.
One of the panels celebrates Jim’s, a dance bar that was on Liberty Pole Way. It’s been gone for some time, but it’s well-remembered by people of my generation who were there in the early 1980s. The panel also commemorates the firehouse on Monroe Avenue that was the original home of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley. That organization now is Rochester Rainbow Union and it has a new home, but it’s nice to see the firehouse remembered.
Another tile honors Evelyn Bailey and Tim Mains, each of whom have passed away and left tremendous legacies.
Evelyn Bailey is remembered as our LGBTQ historian who documented the community since the 1970s. Tim Mains was our first gay city councilman, and he paved the way for other LGBTQ people who wanted to be in politics.
A tile depicts Dr. Bill Valenti, left with Evelyn Bailey. In the background is a letter written by the sister of two men who received treatment from Community Health Network. Silhouetted is an image of former City Councilman Tim Mains. Credit: From ‘Heartline’ installation by Carrie Gault.
This panel also has a letter from the sister of two men who were patients when we started Community Health Network, which later became Trillium Health. This woman is thanking us for the care we gave her brothers, who ultimately died of AIDS. It’s a moving letter, and I still have it.
Another panel honors the late Wayne Esposito, a drag performer known as Liza or Liza Minelli. The tiles tell Wayne’s story of being a kid and not being able to go into bars. “So I watched drag shows through a window. I wanted to see … .”
A panel honors drag performers, such as the late Wayne Esposito, who said, ‘I watched drag shows through a window because I wanted to see … . Credit: From ‘Heartline’ installation by Carrie Gault.
“Heartline” is a collaboration of Home Properties, which owns the building, and Rochester Contemporary Arts Center, with sponsors including Trillium Health.
You really need to see it for yourself.