Picture Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” — but instead of the goddess rising out of a seashell in the ocean, it’s a plastic shell in a Phoenix backyard. Venus is a queer woman who’s tattooed and wearing stilettos. The blanket her angel is throwing over her is a serape.
That’s what the iconic work looks like through the eyes of Phoenix photographer and artist Omar Soto. It’s part of their recent exhibition “Mediums of Hope” that’s showing now at the Phoenix Art Museum as part of their Emerging Artist Awards.
Other photographs in the series include Soto’s interpretation of the Archangel Michael defeating Satan — with Michael draped in a Mexican flag— and a gender-bending “Venus of Urbino.”
It’s just the kind of subversive subject matter that Soto, who is non-binary, likes to feature in their work. But, it’s mostly meant to be uplifting.
The Show sat down with Soto recently to talk more about how a high school photography class turned into a career. And why they treat digital photography like the film they learned first.
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![AZ Husky Rescue co-founders Alison Nicolosi [left] and Veronica Reece with Marley, an adoptable dog, at the Heard Museum on July 12, 2026.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b00a52b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+389/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6f%2Fec%2F2996515440019795916d3223754c%2Fmolly-of-denali-az-husky-rescue-20260712.jpg)
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![AZ Husky Rescue co-founders Alison Nicolosi [left] and Veronica Reece with Marley, an adoptable dog, at the Heard Museum on July 12, 2026.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ba22f31/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+389/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6f%2Fec%2F2996515440019795916d3223754c%2Fmolly-of-denali-az-husky-rescue-20260712.jpg)
