Opening Reception
February 8, 6 - 9 pm

Stock Homo will be on view in The Bows Studio Gallery at The Graycon Building. Please note that The Graycon Building is not wheelchair accessible. A freight elevator on the second floor, accessed via stairs, can take guests to the fourth floor.

The exhibition is by appointment only
Book Here

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Stock Homo is a series of photographs by Spanish-Mexican artist Yaiza Lopez Garcia San Roman that illustrate her encounters with homophobia. Although the exhibit surrounds specific memories from growing up in a small town in Mexico— ranging from getting blackmailed into coming out to telling her mom she has a girlfriend years later— her pieces chronicle shared experiences for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

The photographs are shot in the style of the internet’s beloved stock photos, used for everything from memes to professional presentations. Yaiza’s series features classic stock photo elements like overly expressive models, props, flat lighting, and a white studio background; each image is dotted with watermark-style words, which, while normally protect the image’s copyright, tell the story behind the photo. The series of photographs are displayed suspended from the ceiling in front of the walls, painted in the white-grey checkered PNG grid, simulating the experience of logging on.

Stock photos each have a specific prompt that ranges from a general gesture to incredibly specific situations, but, as they are available to the public, end up representing more than what they were meant to depending on the user’s own experience. Stock Homo reimagines this commercial aspect; the models are all members of the LGBTQ+ community and their participation in these specific events highlights their relatability. So, although Stock Homo started as a therapeutic activity for Yaiza, it took shape as a community space of its own: sharing stories during the shoots, the exhibition reception events and the experience of visiting the photos themselves recreate the experience of logging online to meet people who understand and relate. Participants are invited into a safe space to celebrate queerness, reenact their experiences,— whatever they might be— and take their power back.

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Yaiza Lopez Garcia San Roman is a chronically online multifaceted artist whose camera roll is full of photos of empty bike racks and sandwiches with jalapeños that were accidentally arranged in a visually pleasing way. She lets ideas decide the mediums, so she makes clothes, music, paintings, photos, films, and sculptures made out of soap, steel, wood, ham, cheese, bread (etc). Through a comedic and autobiographical approach, her work prompts social reflection using artworks that reference tweets, TikToks, and recognizable pop culture moments. Her most recent project Stock Homo (2025) uses weird stock photos to explore the queer teen experience in a small town in Mexico.

Yaiza was born in Spain and has spent 1/3 of her life there, 1/3 in Mexico, and the other 1/3 in Canada. When she was 11 she started editing videos in Windows Movie Maker and she hasn't stopped since: she now works as a film & video editor. At 16 she started producing music and she started an independent record label in Mexico two years later. In 2024 she graduated with a BFA from the University of Calgary and opened a virtual contemporary art gallery on YouTube. Currently she enjoys making TikToks about pop culture, nostalgia, & the cultural reset that was 2014-2016.