For “I remember this one time” Nick & Jake are accumulating stories of LGBTQIA+ life in Houston from the community members and recording them in an evolving wall of chalk. The arrangement is set up as both an installation and a gathering place. There are sculptural tables memorializing the bar tops from Mary’s Naturally that extend across the Project Wall and into the floorspace of the Flex Studio, inviting visitors to come sit, convene, and reflect. Throughout its run, the project hosts workshops and public programs celebrating queer life in Houston—both past and present—gathering oral histories from students, alumni, and the broader public. Painted with chalkboard paint, the Project Wall as well becomes an active writing surface that accumulates records of these exchanges, enabling the installation to serve as a living archive that reinforces the need to value, preserve, and learn from LGBTQ+ histories.  

“I remember this one time… “ is a part of the project Town Meeting 1978-2028, a three-year initiative to commemorate Town Meeting 1 —a 1978 gathering of over four thousand LGBTQ+ Houstonians that helped establish the city’s current queer support networks. In advance to its fiftieth anniversary, this initiative is to foster public awareness and create dialogue that will culminate in citywide programming in 2028.     

If you’d like to contribute your story to this project or to future “I remember this one time” installations, you can find instructions and a submission portal here.