Queer|Art is proud to announce the official launch of the "ARCANUM" Cyber Gallery, the digital centerpiece of the 2019-2020 Queer|Art|Mentorship Annual Exhibition, now available to view on the Queer|Art website. Upon entering the online exhibition environment, visitors will discover the traditional gallery format has been alchemized into an interactive video game; a cosmic dreamscape complete with seven planets, uniquely constructed by the Graduating Fellows of the Queer|Art|Mentorship (QAM) program. Within these self-contained worlds, produced in collaboration with artists and digital engineers gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, each Fellow offers their own stories as told through their chosen media.
At the nucleus of the exhibition’s virtual galaxy is the Ofrenda (Altar) to Queer Ancestor Artists, which features artworks by Afro-diasporic and Queer ancestors, assembled in collaboration with Visual AIDS, The LGBT Community Center, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “ARCANUM” is curated by Anthonywash.Rosado, and includes work by: Brian Gonzalez, Patrick G. Lee, María José Maldonado, Felli Maynard, Olaiya Olayemi, Sarah Sanders, and Sarah Zapata.
Continue below to read Anthonywash.Rosado's curatorial statement for "ARCANUM."
Ofrenda. Anthonywash.Rosado, constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt. Cyber Altar, 2020
— PARABLE OF THE CURATOR —
Curatorial Statement By Anthonywash.Rosado
“When you feel a conflict, try to…embrace difference.”
—Octavia Butler, Adulthood Rites
"I’m a 'Butler baby.' That is: one who considers Octavia Butler’s novels to be both prediction and testament; it is my firm belief that we are to go to the stars. Butler motivates me to keep the cornerstone of my curatorial praxis rooted in my fascination for the universe. My spirituality–the connection with my ancestors and the deities I praise–propels me to share culturally responsible storytelling technologies. As a child of the Atlantic ocean’s diasporas, I curate African and American futurist artists within interactive installations to promote autonomous storytelling.
You, reading this now, are inherently capable of preserving your origins. You will reach the stars by following the maps your ancestors made for you. Mine, in their infinite wisdom, have guided me to the Queer|Art|Mentorship program.
When I first met my cohort in Fall 2019, the tether that binds our practices today became immediately clear. We are each a haven for queer stories, which we gift to audiences. We are the shooting stars that our ancestors whispered wishes upon. We understand that you, dear reader, are also the result of a star hurtling across the traffic of constellations, against the unobstructed night sky.
2126, María José Maldonado, constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, 2020.
My Mentorship cohort has been the sun I orbit this year. Truth be told, we are most comforted to be in community with one another–sharing in our experience as a group of mostly Black, Brown, queer, and trans artists. This opportunity is uncommon for arts fellowship programs in New York City, and we take advantage of this rarity by nurturing our cohort’s bond through a WhatsApp group chat and retreats.
How many curators can say the artists they showcase check in on them and reassure them with bold love? I don’t know.
I do know that I am humbled to present 'ARCANUM,' a culminating representation of our care for one another and the time we’ve had together this year. A video game art exhibition, 'ARCANUM' features the work of my Mentorship peers: Brian Gonzalez’s haunting homage to Mexican ancestors of the 1910-40s; Patrick G. Lee’s documentary-in-progress highlighting the Queer Korean diaspora; María José Maldonado’s conjured future when cisgender boys and men have begun to menstruate due to the dwindling human population caused by climate change; Felicita “Felli” Maynard’s altar displaying 1920s archive replicas of two fictional drag kings; Olaiya Olayemi's ritual performance to her Orisha, the Yoruban deity Oshun; Sarah Sanders’ multimedia exploration of the origins of her name’s meanings; and Sarah Zapata’s textiles, harking back to her Peruvian ancestors.
Invisible Violence, Brian Gonzalez, constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, 2020.
Raja Feather Kelly and Maia Chao are 2019-2020 Fellows who contributed to the ideating phase of 'ARCANUM.' Kelly also guided the virtual Opening Reception on October 29th alongside Andre J, as DJ Monday Blue and Adam R filled the night with nostalgic beats.
It is with a beaming heart that I relay this: I would not have actualized 'ARCANUM' were it not for the compassionate and genius direction of Matice Moore, Queer|Art|Mentorship Program Manager, and Río Sofia, Programs & Operations Director. And although she came to me just two months before the reception, C. Finley is the mentor I need/ed to match my triple-Aries intensity and 'get sh*t done' drive. Finley, Matice and Río came through with the support and resources that I have sought for ten years. I further owe the materialization of my vision to the cyber gallery engineers gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, and the graphic designer Andrius Alvarez-Backus, all of whom digitized my imaginings with kismet-like accuracy.
The title, 'ARCANUM,' is inspired by a combat move in the 2002 role-playing video game 'Kingdom Hearts,' produced by Disney for Playstation 2. Sora, the hero, battles countless 'heartless' enemies while traversing a solar system of planets, each one a rendering of a Disney animated film. For example, playing as Sora, you swim with the Little Mermaid to protect her underwater fortress, fly with Peter Pan to defend the London clock tower, and compete against Hades algonside Hercules to free Mount Olympus. This game, coupled with Butler’s science fiction novels, have nourished my imagination and emboldened my passionate investigation of the cosmos.
Ole Dandy, the Tribute, Felicita “Felli” Maynard, constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, 2020
While developing 'ARCANUM' I asked myself, How do I interface my desire to explore the universe with my curatorial endeavors? So, I searched for my answer. I filtered through, as Christopher Edwin Breaux rightfully coined it, my 'nostalgia ultra.'
'Ars Arcanum' is a magical spell that Sora conducts to execute a continuous sweep of glowing strikes against the “heartless.” He is obligated to save an entire solar system’s inhabitants, similar to Lilith Iyapo, the protagonist of Dawn by Octavia Butler. For both Lilith and Sora, home is bygone. Lilith is forced by a galactic society—who preserved humans after Earth suffered a nuclear holocaust 250 years prior—to train the first awakened group how to survive on a new planet with a foreign species, eons away from home. Lilith testifies:
'Oankali crave difference. Humans persecute their different ones, yet they need them to give themselves definition and status. Oankali seek difference and collect it. They need it to keep themselves from stagnation and overspecialization. If you don’t understand this, you will. You’ll probably find both tendencies surfacing in your own behavior…When you feel a conflict, try to go the Oankali way. Embrace difference.'
—Octavia Butler, Lilith’s Brood trilogy
An instep along the self edge, Sarah Zapata, constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, 2020.
In 'Kingdom Hearts,' Sora conjures the power of light in his heart to seal each world and rid the Disney universe of those who are 'heartless.' Sora and Lilith both achieve their goals, only to be mandated more tasks that meet the needs of their respective oligarchies.
Will I be hired to curate diasporic exhibitions that dismantle eurocentrically propagandistic ideologies; to spotlight autochthonous stories, traditions, and values?
The 'heartless' used to be peaceful beings. When a “heartless” is defeated, a glimmering heart floats, signifying its return to its owner. Physical aggressors in Lilith’s first group retired to slumber alongside sleeping homo sapiens, unaffected by the sanctions of time. Those who remained distrusted Lilith’s loyalty to the 'human race.'
KQTxProject, Patrick G. Lee, constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, 2020.
Am I capable of guiding people to uncover their lineage stories?
Lilith and Sora each found love, albeit in a place that will never be their home, for both of their planets were irreversibly destroyed. I am a housing rights activist who has fought for over ten years to save the Bushwick I was raised in, hence I connect with Lilith and Sora because I, too, can never return home.
Therefore, I look to love. Love is the nucleus of my curatorial praxis. Storytelling is my foundation. Interactivity is my means of cross-pollinating origin stories.
Unfortunately, Miss ‘Rona has hindered everyone from communing to share stories as we once did. I truly believe that March 2020 set a fork in the road for curators worldwide: you either adapt or you don’t. As Earth itself adapts to contemporary conditions, I wonder, Can 'ARCANUM' forge accessible exhibitions generated by NYC’s art museums?
ado: a (re)mixed media installation, Olaiya Olayemi, constructed by gabbah baya and Natalie Valcourt, 2020.
For me, it is more logical to identify the blessings in limitations. I aim for ARCANUM to be a map for public museums and galleries across NYC, one that guides them to manifest similarly immersive exhibitions and public events that meet physical distancing regulations. This will ensure that people, without access to and/or comprehension of navigating the internet, also make up the audience. If galleries are to be online, I believe they are to be engaging; more than just images and text to scroll through.
Axé, or Ashe, is a Yoruban concept originating in Nigeria. It has two meanings, depending on the context. One is an identification of the Godliness that a person or people possess. It humbly worships their ability to shape change. The second is a prayer or declaration to bless an individual or community. Here, bless connotes 'well wishes.'
Utilizing both definitions, Axé be to we who persistently endure the cacophony of social unrest, governmental neglect, and global distress which has led to 2020. There is a future and, because curating 'ARCANUM' for Queer|Art has trained me to advocate for my vision and contributions, I know that we—you, the reader, and me—carry the magic to harvest gold from rusting steel."
Anthonywash.Rosado is a queer Afro-Boricua storyteller and cultural curator merging anthropological literature, visual art, interactive installation, and immersive performance; to gift TLGBQ+ and BIPoC story-sharing methods. Rosado worked with Mentor, curator of the Every Woman Biennial and visual artist C. Finley, to curate the 2019-2020 Queer|Art|Mentorship Annual Exhibition, titled “Arcanum”.
Links: Website, Instagram, Facebook