Lilian Agar’s exhibition A Hug Away used interactive portraiture to share the experiences of four LGBTQ+ people and support conversations about youth suicide prevention in Utah.
The project was shown at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake Community College and the Huntsman Mental Health Institute in 2022.
Four portraits activated by movement
The exhibition included four paintings accompanied by audio and a mirror marked with copper tape. Motion sensors activated recordings that guided listeners through each subject’s past, present and imagined future.
This structure allowed the participants’ own voices to remain central. The portraits were not isolated images of identity; they became entry points into stories about family, faith, isolation, coming out and finding community.
Zee Kilpack described growing up in a close religious community where witnessing hostility toward another gay student made disclosure feel dangerous. Moving to Salt Lake City later provided language and connections that helped them understand their identity.
A tribute to contact and survival
Agar, a queer artist from Mexico, connected the title with the pandemic period when physical contact with loved ones became impossible. The hug became a symbol of the kindness and connection the exhibition argued were necessary in the face of prejudice.
Trans-nonbinary performance artist Maddison Cam participated because the project served the wider queer community. Their contribution reinforced the idea that sharing personal truth could create recognition for people who had not yet found language for their own experience.
A virtual three-dimensional version, artist notes and prevention resources extended the exhibition online.
A Hug Away treated art as a means of listening rather than speaking for others. Painting, sound and interaction created a space in which individual testimony could challenge isolation and make survival visible.