The blame for ecological and economic crises is often displaced onto “alien” and “invasive” species, even as natural resources are continually extracted and human labor, exploited. As parts of this ecosystem, we must reconcile the ways we live with what’s around us.
This group exhibition features works from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) artists working across mediums. These may include sound, performance, video, installation, and visual forms; as well as daily inventions, imaginative tools, and pieces that grow, that float, that hang, that become. Let us consider alternate understandings of usefulness, of strangeness, of abundance.
About the Curators:
Heidi Ratanavanich is a part-time artist and a full-time friend. Heidi is interested in the intersection of food sovereignty, Thai/Chinese diaspora, ecology and economy. She joined the Truelove Seeds squad in 2020 as an apprentice, and is involved in Television, which provides low cost technology rentals to independent curators, activists and organizers in Philadelphia. They are also part of a team that is re-opening a small takeout corner store in West Philly called Golden Dragon.
Connie Yu practices writing, printing, and cooking, which feel most energetic when collaborative. They work in manners of production, print, and public gathering, toward means of responsive and collective learning. So far, this has meant curating, editing, and publishing work by and for queer Asian artists and writers; facilitating art practices of folks with limited access to education; working on the sidelines of multidisciplinary productions in Philadelphia to tune skills, build resources, and share joy.
Together, with Andrienne Palchick, they are a co-founders/editors/otherwise tenders of the publication project FORTUNE, and its small-scale risograph imprint Many Folds Press.