midwest

“We are artists,” Alec Ozawa says, “but we don’t create art for ourselves.” He and his fiancée, Ash Stewack, make art for others: for businesses, passersby, and neighborhoods. And most of the time, you won’t even find their signature at the bottom right of the piece. The Chicago-based sign...

Shannon and Eve Mingalone avow that their farmers market booth is “very gay.” They hang strings of pride flags and sell rainbow stickers to help pay for gender-affirming care, like hormone replacement therapy, for Eve. Sometimes, when parents and their teenagers pass the booth, the adults glance, then speed...