Being & Becoming: Interviews on Queer Representation and Care as a Guide for Liberatory Creative Work
Being & Becoming is a 2-part project beginning with a collection of interviews regarding queer visibility, representation, and authorship in media; accompanied by a Care Guide for white and non-Black PoC artists who are committed to the work of dismantling white supremacy and transphobia in their work. Post-Supremacy Portal is a vision of Philly after dismantling all cultures of violence and finally achieving a self-determined and reciprocal coexistence. The project serves as a call to use critical, intersectional politics in creating systems of radical support for QTBIPoC, shapeshifting to evade commodification, and embodying a constant state of becoming in our work and relationships.
Being & Becoming features interviews with Mx. Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad, Andrea Jácome, Bryan Oliver Green, Carol Zou, Cxoda Hu, Darius McLean, Dev, Fortune (Andrienne Palchick, Heidi Ratanavanich, and Connie Yu), Heart Byrne, Ixa, Malachi Lily, Noemi Charlotte Thieves, ociele hawkins, Raani Begum, Tristan “TK” Morton, & Zuri Love
48×24 inch vinyl print in lightbox
Post-Supremacy Portal features Mx. Abdul-Aliy Muhammed, Alex Smith, Andrea Jácome, Arazel Thalez, Ash Richards, Barbara Gittings (1932-2007), Chaska Sofia, Darius McLean, Dev & Zuri Love, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells (1993-2020), Sir Eli Ra & Bryan Oliver Green, Gladys Bentley (1907-1960), Heart Byrne & Harlow Figa, Icon Ebony Fierce, Ixa fka Mr. Manic, Juliana Reyes, Kira Rodriguez, Kiyoshi Kuromiya (1943-2000), Manny Figeuroa, Mia Secreto, Moor Mother, Nizah Morris (1955-2002), ociele hawkins, Raani Begum & sub, Shoog McDaniel, Tristan “TK” Morton, Wit López, & Zuri Love.
“Power Map: Historic Mural Activations” is a series of five newly commissioned artworks, events, performances and workshops activating murals created in Mural Arts Philadelphia’s (MAP) first 20 years that depict power and empowerment. Five diverse figurative murals serve as the starting point for an exploration of the history of their creation and the neighborhood change that the murals have witnessed. They also offer a prompt for thinking about how power is depicted in public art today and in the recent past. Historic Mural Activations took place between the Summer of 2019 and Fall of 2020 featuring artists Marie Alarcon, Ken McFarlane, Mark Strandquist & Courtney Bowles with TRIPOD writers-in-residence from Writers Room at Drexel, Studio 22 (Nasheli Juliana Ortiz, Marién Vélez and Lorna Mulero) and Eva Wǒ. This project has been developed on the occasion of MAP’s 35th anniversary by guest curator-in-residence Daniel Tucker.
The title of the project is inspired by the practice of “power mapping” which is a form found commonly in community organizing. One of the conventions of a power map is to create a visualization of who might be in agreement or disagreement around a particular issue. This emphasis on Agree/Disagree, or Yes/No, can be seen as the foundation of politics, but it also connects with aesthetic questions essential to the history of muralism in terms of the representation of affirmative or negative depictions of a community. Additionally, the use of the Mural Arts Philadelphia organizational acronym: MAP in the title of the project is intentional and indicates an opportunity for the project to expand upon the rich organizational history.
See the full Power Maps Virtual Exhibition @ PublicArtArchive.org/power-map
Curated by Daniel Tucker
with additional support from Ash Richards, Irit Reinheimer, Althea Baird, Carol Zou, & Kathryn Poole