‘Queer Ecologies’ by Karim Boumjimar: Chaotic Drawings for Queer Rights

Spanish multidisciplinary artist Karim Boumjimar often creates works that challenge prevailing social hierarchies. In their large-scale drawing piece, Queer Ecologies, they reflect on their personal experiences, observations and in-depth research of queer history and theory in chaotic drawings made with crayons, ink and paint that seem to extend endlessly like an ancient scroll. Here, Boumjimar employs bold colours, lines and intricate details to delve into the beauty and challenges of being part of the queer community. 

The piece ebbs in and out of figurative and abstraction, characters can be seen portraying queer intimacy, identity and social dynamic—ebbing in and out of each other as life events do from one to another. These drawings seem to record Boumjimar’s experience in a non-linear and non-chronological way, creating a single whole which helps to humanize the queer existence for everyone who witnesses the piece. Here, Boumjimar has framed themselves and other queer people as human beings who are also trying their best to ebb and flow with the challenges that life throws at them. This is why Queer Ecologies by Karim Boumjimar is relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality.

Despite significant progress being made on global queer rights, same-sex relationships are still criminalized in over 70 nations worldwide. Further, over 50 percent of queer students in the United States and the United Kingdom are found to suffer from severe bullying at school, which has resulted in over a third of them dropping out. 40 percent of homeless youth in the United States are also queer-identifying people, who without doubt have been a victim of the system that is set up against them. This is why efforts to campaign for queer rights, such as Queer Ecologies by Karim Boumjimar, are imperative across the globe.

Karim Boumjimar’s Queer Ecologies is a vivid testament to the resilience, complexity and humanity of queer existence. Through chaotic yet thoughtful compositions in crayon, ink and paint, Boumjimar draws viewers into a world that challenges social hierarchies and explores the multifaceted queer experience. The piece’s non-linear, almost scroll-like format brings intimacy and depth to its narratives, inviting viewers to witness beauty and struggle. Queer Ecologies serves as a compelling call for empathy, understanding, and equal rights for queer people everywhere.

Find out more about Queer Ecologies and other pieces by Karim Boumjimar on their website www.karimboumjimar.com or Instagram @beigetype.