Kapybara Kid: A Picture Book Exhibition

Kapybara Kid will consist of an exhibition and live performance based on an original story. The story will be a large, handbound artist book, using mediums such as watercolor, color pencils, collage, and ink. Original artist books will be documented and reprints will be made to be distributed to guests and donated to LGBTQ+ youth organizations and kids museums in South Florida. There will be a reception with a performance and reading of each Kapybara Kid book made so far. These readings will include a viewing of the original artist books, immersive video flip throughs, and original music based on each story. This will essentially be a live music performance, that is also a read-along.

The threadline through each Kapybara Kid story is creating empathy and connection through building community. Because these stories are created by a person of queer experience, Kitt is depicted as someone with no distinct gender, and each book shares an idea of equality. Capybaras themselves are unique animals, but they are also naturally friendly, tolerant, and sociable creatures, and their personalities reflect a lot of the lessons in the stories. In the latest installment of Kapybara Kid, there is a metaphor that attempts to address certain ideas surrounding queer youth, specifically the assumption that people need to leave their home to find themselves; the idea that to live prosperously, people must go elsewhere. This story grapples with the idea of showing others that marginalized people belong in a space, just as much as they do, despite any differences. Community can be found or created anywhere, even if it is small.