The new iteration of Looking Forward while Looking Back: Reassertions, presents the works of NARS Alumni Helina Metaferia, Katya Grokhovsky and Julia Kwon. The narrative in the works of Kwon, Metaferia and Grokhovsky is built upon differences nourished and empowered by expressions of identity, and methodical investigations of history -particularly cultural traditions- as the basis for discourse. The works in this exhibition speak out against racial, ethnic and sexual violence, stereotypes, prejudices and injustice to create subversive actions and present them as gestures rooted in care and the empowerment of all identities. Manifested mostly through patterns, collage, textures, installations, and performance, the works are open invitations to discuss civil rights, agency, oral history, stereotypes and identity politics. The results are performative gestures –strong statements that are loud, unapologetic, fearless and profound reassertions of the self. This pandemic has made it crystal clear that we need to act in unison to overcome not only viruses but also racism, xenophobia, corruption, migration, hunger, health rights, climate change, gender rights... the list goes on; and that hatred, anger and fear often take more space than care, compassion and love.
Julia Kwon
Julia Kwon's newest project "Unapologetically Asian" is made with layers of cotton and patchworked Korean silk. The work is sewn in response to the fact that preventative mask worn especially by Asian people has largely been perceived as an unnecessary overreaction, a proof of illness, or an open invitation to commit hate crimes during the coronavirus pandemic. Now a growing number of officials and health experts argue that people should wear non-medical fabric masks in public to help prevent spread of the virus. Julia's work unapologetically celebrates her ethnic identity to confront coronavirus-related racism while also promoting public face masks to help flatten the curve.
Helina Metaferia
My interdisciplinary series, "By Way of Revolution," examines the impact of civil rights eras of the past on today's social justice movements. The project centralizes women of color as its main protagonist. It combines archival research and oral histories with performative gestures to produce collages, video, and social engagement. In our trying political climate, where black and brown lives are continuing to fight to matter, and women are summoning the courage to speak out against sexual violence, my work seeks to combine the fiery of previous generations with the direness of today in order to imagine a better collective future.
Katya Grokhovsky
Grokhovsky works in installation, performance, sculpture, video, painting and drawing, exploring ideas of gender, identity, alienation, labor and the self. Through research and autobiographical experience, Grokhovsky builds worlds and characters, through which she examines and underscores stereotypes, assumptions, prejudices and injustice. She is interested in the histories of migration and displacement, whilst enacting the bodies of the historically oppressed, in relation to the preconceived social order. Many of her projects deal with protest and freedom through failure, via radical and humorous actions: reclaiming the body through pleasure, chaos and refusal, residing in the space of absurd grotesque and nostalgic kitsch.