THE ART
Justen LeRoy
Justen LeRoy (b. 1994, Los Angeles) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator, currently living in Los Angeles, whose sonic and performance work investigates the traditions of Black sound as it relates to spirituality and geology.
Lay Me Down in Praise
Lay Me Down in Praise, created by multidisciplinary artist Justen LeRoy (b. 1994, Los Angeles), is a three-channel film installation that asks how the scream, moan, and melisma—also known as the vocal run—provide a sonic route toward Black environmentalism. LeRoy layers clips of Black performers with images of geological activity. Through this juxtaposition, the artist considers how resistance and regeneration inhabit the wordless screeches of the Earth and the history of Black sound. Lay Me Down in Praise insists the Earth's aches and upheavals, felt in volcanic eruptions, tectonic shifts, and other cataclysmic events, are entangled with Black resistance and liberation.
BMike
Brandan “BMike” Odums is a New Orleans-based visual artist who, through exhibitions, and public art works and programs, is engaged in a transnational dialogue about the intersection of art and resistance. From film to murals to installations, Odums’ work encapsulates the political fervor of a generation of Black American activists.
In 2016, Odums established Studio Be, a 36,000 square foot gallery with the goal of “cultivating the power and responsibility of artists to create a better world.” Studio Be features “Ephemeral.Eternal,” his first solo exhibition and is home to Eternal Seeds, a community-based nonprofit that serves artists in New Orleans. The studio is open to the public four days a week, and welcomes hundreds of visitors from near and far weekly. Studio Be was named one of the 50 best things to do in the world by TimeOut global travel blog.
Andrea Bowers
Hybrids (the headshot collection) is part of a larger series where through photography images between dreams and realities are deconstructed and reconstructed, while silhouettes and designs overlap heterogeneous materials, coming together in the dialectical relationship that denotes fashion as a contemplative process. and its utilitarian value or social purpose. The poetic narrative that is established in the portraits in a kind of masquerade, introduces us to a world of disturbing looks and surreal characters.
The clash of the bold look of the photographer Eduardo Rawdriguez and the theatrical representations of the work of Celia Ledon, result in this series of portraits of protagonists of shared dreams.
Protest Ribbons
Andrea Bowers’ Protest Ribbons are silk screened with messages that bring urgent focus to social justice and our current climate emergency. A variation of her Political Ribbons series, it calls to mind the tradition of Suffragette ribbons and nonviolent protest. Protest Ribbons will be presented at the Plaza of the Americas. Guests are invited to each take a ribbon and display them in solidarity and support for climate action.
