Abbey Muzatko
Scholar Class – 2011
Abbey Muzatko was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin and was primarily raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. At age thirteen, she came out to close friends and was promptly “outed” to her eighth grade class. After becoming aware of the level of intolerance in middle school, she became determined to work for the visibility and acceptance of queer youth. In high school, she was a member of her GSA and during her senior year became a co-leader of the group. During her tenure as co-leader and as a member of the group, the GSA led many new events and acted extensively in her high school and in her community. She was also one of the youth to aid in the inception of the LGBT Partnership – Green Bay, after which she worked as a member of the Partnership’s steering team and as a youth leader at weekly meetings.
Abbey’s artistic work is primarily focused on the female figure as a matrix for meaning. She explores the ways in which sexuality and gender are influenced via culture and society and how binary and heteronormative sexualities are impressed upon queer culture and identity. Her work also reflects how biological sexuality is affected by societal influence and pressures, how it is gendered, and how biological inception is influenced by outside and distorted expectations.
In the future, Abbey hopes to attend graduate school for her MFA and become a professor. She also hopes to establish a nonprofit organization synthesizing her passions for art and the visibility and empowerment of queer youth.