Public Space One’s latest exhibit, “T4T Print Exchange: Trans Joy,” highlights prints made by 17 transgender artists across the U.S. and Canada. From colorful, playful works with animals and characters to more serious works with impactful statements, each artist worked off the prompt of transgender joy. The exhibit will be displayed at Public Space One until Dec. 13. 

Vero Hernandez, artist and co-exhibit organizer, is a 2022 graduate from the University of Iowa who majored in printmaking. They have been creating art since 2018. 

They became involved with the print exchange through a mutual acquaintance who shared information about the project through Instagram. From there, they became connected with Julien Riendeau, the project organizer. 

“It’s the first I’ve seen of just specifically trans artists in printmaking,” Hernandez said. “I think the goal was to go across the United States, potentially internationally.” 

Hernandez’s featured work is a 2024 print titled “My Body Isn’t My Prison,” featuring a central figure of a Frankenstein collage surrounded by blues and pinks and the words, “I make this body mine.” 

“That was a print I made about a month before I personally had my first gender-affirming surgery,” they said. “So, it’s about finally feeling like my body belongs to me.”

The Frankenstein aspect of the print was a collage highlighting Hernandez’s close friends who had supported them during the surgery. Hernandez said they made three print layers with the help of a silk screen, which featured photo-edited body parts of their friends, along with some hand-drawn elements, using tools such as Photoshop, Q-tips, and ink.

For the title itself, “My Body Isn’t My Prison,” Hernandez drew inspiration from their own puberty experience and recalled the feeling of being trapped inside their own body. Hernandez also knew other transgender people who related to the feeling.

“I personally felt like I was trapped in a body that didn’t belong to me, which was kind of awful,” they said. “Now, not so much, and that’s what I was looking forward to while I was making my print.”

While this particular print was centered around the themes of gender and identity, Hernandez said they do not typically make art about their identities. For this print exchange’s prompt about transgender joy, they enjoyed the experience of making art with themes outside of their typical work. 

For John Engelbrecht, Public Space One’s executive director, the themes of joy were one of the things that resonated the most. For Engelbrecht, the untitled 2024 piece by Louisville, Kentucky, artist Parker Anment stood out. In black text, the work simply states, “A world without trans people has never existed and never will.”

“The piece resonates with me as its message is a truth that, for me, cuts through a lot of divisive hubbub in a powerful, succinct way,” Engelbrecht wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan. 

Engelbrecht is a member of the Public Space One gallery team, which is responsible for selecting artists’ awards, which resulted in the 2025-26 exhibition series. Engelbrecht was excited to see that Hernandez, a member of the Iowa City Press Co-op, was selected. The Iowa City Press Co-op is Public Space One’s print-making studio, Engelbrecht said. 

For Allyson Swim, a gallery team volunteer, the artwork that stood out to her was the 2024 piece titled “We Hold the Power” by Chicago artist Martin Trent. The piece included a chain of people surrounded by various objects, including a mini Garfield, which caught Swim’s attention.

“I like how it effectively toes the line between creating something playful, such as tiny Garfield, yet includes a powerful call to action: to give to your neighbor and share resources while also reminding us that crafting is a powerful tool of connection and release,” Swim wrote via email to the DI.

Hernandez hoped viewers of the exhibit would take away the messages behind these works. As a queer person, Hernandez lost their civil rights protections in Iowa.

“It’s hard to find joy and reprieve for a lot of the stuff that’s been happening in the last 10-15 years in the U.S., and I just hope that other people can continue to live their lives while also standing up for everyone else, too,” Hernandez said.