re(VISION)s (2021)
About re(VISION)S:
In re(VISION)s artists were asked to "Vision Revolutionary and Liberatory Realities Rooted in Ancestral Inheritances and re(VISION)ed Technologies of Freedom”. Artists were encouraged to explore through the lenses of the magical, mystical, divinatory, ceremonial and supernatural.
The following poem written by Yoli was intended to expand on the description above and call in with gratitude all of the benevolent artists, beings, and forces that were meant to shape and animate the spirit of this curatorial project, "re(VISION)s".
Roles & Formations in re(VISION)s
Yoli curated re(VISION)s as the Community Outreach & Artist Projects Manager at Side Street Projects. In each residency, Yoli supported the artists in developing and sharing their projects to support the underserved communities of Pasadena, Altadena, and Los Angeles County and nurture their growth as artists. The artists were selected by a panel of artists and Side Street Projects staff.
jas lin: ♡Queeratine SAnctuary ♡
♡ queerantine sanctuary ♡ is a virtual community for Pasadena and Altadena LGBTQIA+ high school students & friends hosted by Side Street Projects’ spring artist-in-residence jas lin. Over the course of 6–7 online gatherings, a cohort of ~20 students collectively explored how to reclaim their bodies as technologies of freedom, while cultivating deeper relationships with one another through dialogue and art-making. jas sees the queer body (both individual and collective) as a dynamic place where we can re-learn our autonomy and re-member our possibility. This was a space for decompression, contemplation, and collaboration– a gentle invitation for students to feel at home in their bodies during quarantine, which becomes more powerful in the context of an intentional community. This sanctuary culminated in the creation of a zine for the students featuring the projects they made during the sessions,
Labkhand & Gazelle: Bi-Lingering
Bi-Lingering is a project by artists Labkhand Olfatmanesh and Gazelle Samizay, women of Iranian and Afghan heritage, exploring the power of language and the duality of existing between cultures.
Bi-Lingering welcomed bilingual people (of any proficiency) to share their experiences of expressing themselves in more than one language by writing a letter to “Dear Bi-Lingering.” As a thank you, the artists mailed participants a limited edition art card of their choice.
And then as part two, posters created by the artists with quotes received from “Dear Bi-Lingering” were shared on Pasadena Public Transit Buses and, as an extension, with their multi-lingual bus ridership.
The residency culminated in a public online event called “Bi-Lingering: Voices with Mother Tongues” which shared letter reading, an artist talk, and a poetry reading by poet Sahar Muradi.