Title: Seeing You See Me
Dates: October 29 - November 11, 2017
Preview: October 29, 2017, 6-8pm
Opening reception: Thursday, November 2, 6:30-9pm (performance at 7pm)
In Seeing You See Me, three artists explore, through various mediums, three ways of seeing: being seen, seeing self and seeing all. The act of seeing can both acknowledge or deny self and others. Viewers are granted access to observe and interpret what it is like to feel invisible, experience the exhaustion of being visible and to confront their own gaze.
Dana Davenport, @dana_dav
Bio: Dana Davenport is a Korean and Black American installation and performance artist. Her work incorporates themes related to the body, ethnicity, and their interwoven relationship to social mores and institutional structures. Davenport addresses the complexity of interminority racism and credits whiteness as the beneficiary of these conflicts. She received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Photography from School of Visual Arts in New York City. Davenport’s work has been exhibited in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York City, and throughout the United States including ‘Within a Circuit’ at NARS Foundation and ‘Brown Paper Zine & Small Press Fair’ at Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts. She has performed at Watermill Center, K&P Gallery, RE: Art Show, BUFU Studios and has completed SOHO20 Gallery artist residency program in 2017. Davenport is a recipient of the SVA Chairman’s Merit Award Scholarship and Rhodes Family Award for Outstanding Achievement in Photography.
Events: Black Mixed Identity: A Meet-up and Discussion pt.II
Jin Hee, @jinnitus
Bio: Jin Hee is a multidisciplinary visual artist, writer, community events organizer and (occasional) performer. Their fiber work deals with the dichotomy of privatization and exhibitionism when exploring identity and body politics. Jin strives to visualize the abstractions of these topics in a literal manner with thread and yarn by needle felting genitalia and decorating them. The decorative features draw in viewers to peer into something that is often hidden. They are interested in addressing topics of oppressive and regulative ideals set forth by East Asian beauty standards for women (i.e. plastic surgery and cosmetic industries) as an act to mimic Eurocentric beauty standards.They challenge these standards by integrating and reflecting cultural practices of body modification and suspension as a form of mental and bodily cleansing. They aim to shed light on forms of beauty and aesthetics that American ideals see as unorthodox. Jin is a 2nd generation Korean American, born and raised in Hawaii. They received their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of Visual Arts. Jin’s work has been exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Raleigh, and Honolulu.
Events: My Body Not State Property - Stories and Poems About Reclamation
Aniahs Gnay, @moon.mansion
Bio: Aniahs Gnay is a visual artist and arts organizer based in NYC. Their work uses sculpture and drawing to explore the vessel body and its carried symbols, connectivity, and the space between it all. Drawing influences from their superstitious Taiwanese family and from their queer American identity, their work questions the shared space of existence. Aniahs Gnay is a graduate from University of California Santa Cruz and has exhibited nationally within the U.S. with works in private collections internationally.