thosetreasuresthatyoukeepjustoutofreach,theycomeandgointruckloads,butnoonestopstoseethem is a portrait of the artist Brendan Fernandes and his chosen family Kyle and Dominick. The work is part of Cruz's chosenfamily series exploring the nonbiological bonds between queer people, expanding on the idea of family as structures that build hope and resilience, chosen out of mutual love and support. The intergenerational portraits speak of queer perspective and agency. Drawing from John Singer Sargent's high society portraits and Francis Bacon's paintings in warped environments, the sitters for this series are invited to pose in opposition to social norms as a form of resistance, play, and queering the act of posing. The subjects are reinterpreting and playing with classical poses, while nestled intimately on a couch. The morphed couch, with its shape evoking a lotus-like flower, appears to birth a form, a new world, a new life. The collective of friends toys with masculinity, cultural identifiers, and sex through high fashion, leather and bondage wear, and cultural beads and fabrics. Fabric and textiles are covered in coded motifs of butterflies and owls.