Levani
imago of a queer artist*
Mar 17 – May 13, 2023
Opening reception Friday, Mar 17 from 6-8p

*imago of a global south-born, lenapehoking-based queer artist to investigate the material, cosmological, and psychological dimensions of existence; to collapse dichotomies and identity categories; to offer an iconography of pluriversal belonging; to inspire empathy, solidarity, and care.

Created through a series of drawings, paintings, sculpture, and personal objects, imago of a queer artist* offers space for an expanded notion of queerness as the capacity for porousness, fluidity, and transformation. The exhibition’s title (abbreviated here) is a deliberate tool providing a conceptual framework for the show and responding to overwhelming systems of categorization used in the art world (and in larger discussions around identity politics). The need to assign labels within conversations around representation, while sometimes intended to improve clarity and communication, often creates rigid and pre-conceived images to which one is forced to adhere.

Drawing upon their own research, as well as the work of writers, scientists, theorists, and thinkers who have served as companions along the way, Levani re-imagines, in community, a more holistic way of being in the world. As such, the story of imago of a queer artist*, will be told through a polyphony of voices that move between borders, generations, traditions, and time to propose a new state of existence– shifting, breaking down, reconstituting–to become whole.

A multitude of perspectives will be shared through documents, book launches, talks, and poetry readings brought together by the artist as a series of public programs, offered free of charge, within the space of the exhibition at Cuchifritos Gallery. A full calendar of events is available on the AAI website.