We Hold
Dedicated to all the Black, Indigenous, queer, transgender, non-binary, people of color, who hold, weave, web, craft and tend to the remembering of our past, present and future stories.
The first part of this newsletter is a BULLETIN BOARD with upcoming and current shows, projects, book releases and events, that I hope you will come to and share with your communities.
And the second part is ROOTS, WEBS, NETS, and BRANCHES. A written offering, sharing of work, expansion & footnotes of what's going on in my studio, practice and brain. This part is paid and I invite you to support my work for $5 a month, $50 a year or become a founding member for $150 a year.
ROOTS WEBS NETS BRANCHES BULLETIN BOARDS is my practice, is labor, is my work.
Todays newsletter will be all BULLETIN BOARD.
We Hold
FINAL DAYS: Up until February 29, 2024
Screening at the top of the hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
8775 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA
‘We Hold’ started as a series of collages that weaved worlds and resistance legacies, made while I was living in Richmond, VA. Questions about who holds resistance histories in and around the neighborhoods we reside in and how do they get archived, asking local activists about where and how I can learn of the struggles fought in this city, asking questions about how to find Black Queer community, learning through and with new language, getting clearer about the connective tissue between Oakland, CA and Richmond, VA and all past-present-future homes, learning to live and make home and community through questions asked, answering all my questions through Black Queer activists opening up their porches as sacred sanctuary, weaving within and feeding the deep resistance, liberation and survival fabric of a soon to be new home.
Dedicated to all the Black, Indigenous, queer, transgender, non-binary, people of color, who hold, weave, web, craft and tend to the remembering of our past, present and future stories.
Dedicated to Cecilia Gentili, Nex Benedict, our queer elders and youth and teens and adults who have been murdered in Palestine, the Congo, Sudan and all over this globe. Ashe
We fight for you!
In the Summer/Fall of 2023, that same series of paper collages were then used in the creation of this animation. Huge shoutout to Sair Goetz for their outstanding motion graphics support. Lifting letters off the page and into action, giving breath to question marks and deep care to every minute of this new piece. And to Jeanne Vaccaro for curating me into this incredible series!
A few projects in the works are……
In the Spring of 2023, I had a residency in a papermaking studio and fell in love with the practice of making paper, painting with paper, working with the wet on wet process that felt so new and also so much like printmaking.
So inspired by that residency, I am making a new series of large scale paper banners that are inspired by the life and work of Amaza Lee Meredith, a Black, queer architect and educator, based in Virginia, alive during the 1890s. This work will be a part of a show at the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU in Richmond, VA. More details on that in the coming months!
Please join me in standing with artists currently showing at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (including myself), in calling on members of the public to boycott YBCA until our demands are met. YBCA is a public space, and it must be accountable to the community and its artists who give it relevance.
We call on artists and cultural workers, community members and museum visitors to join us, stand with us, and take action! In just one week, more than 2,200 people supported our email campaign to amplify our demands to YBCA. And as of today, the employees of YBCA stand with us by releasing their own open letter. We are honored to be joining forces during this crucial time of holding the museum accountable and reshaping the arts landscape together. The power of the people cannot be stopped.
On February 15, eight of us chose to publicly alter our own works in BAN 9 to serve our role as artists in the fight for the liberation of Palestine, for the right to return home, for the right to resist and live in freedom. Our hearts are broken witnessing the ongoing genocide in Palestine. As artists, cultural workers, and people who use our craft to digest, process, and share our stories, we feel that we must act decisively and call for an end to the bombing, starvation, and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
We are appalled by the mass silence of art institutions in this country, including YBCA. Despite our demonstration and demands, you have yet to address the genocide of Palestinians by the US-backed apartheid state of Israel. We are deeply saddened and concerned by your passivity as an institution that claims to be “a catalyst of creative exploration, expression and innovation that empowers artists, inspires community and drives lasting social change.”
Read our full open letter and a great new article on KQED that came out on Monday.
Special thanks to my new paid subscribers who have joined in part because of my weekly broadcast, Footnotes & Headlines. The weekly broadcast: Footnotes & Headlines is the connective tissue and on going webbing of my work is the forecast, the check in, the dispatch, the pulse, the ritual of coming together every week Footnotes & Headlines is an offering to my paid subscribers is a whisper to join today, to receive these weekly works, like a gift in your pocket every week is $5 a month, $50 a year or become a founding member for $150 a year.
It is never too late to join <3 A new broadcast comes out tomorrow, plus there are five past offerings to catch up on: The ritual has already begun, POWER UP, Let it be a tale, you are here now to tell this story and How do you archive movement school?
~~WE OWE PALESTINE OUR ENDURANCE, FREE FREE PALESTINE~~
