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Jan 31, 2020-Jan 2, 2021 Margaret Kilgallen that's where the beauty is. Jan 31, 2020-Jan 2, 2021 ∆ Margaret Kilgallen, Money to Loan (Paintings for the San Francisco Bus Shelter Posters) , 2000. Mixed media on paper and fabric, 68 x 48 1/2 in (172.72 x 123.19 cm). Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Gift of the estate of Margaret Kilgallen and partial purchase with funds provided by The Judith Rothschild Foundation. Photo: Tony Prikryl ∆ Margaret Kilgallen, Money to Loan (Paintings for the San Francisco Bus Shelter Posters) , 2000. Mixed media on paper and fabric, 68 x 48 1/2 in (172.72 x 123.19 cm). Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Gift of the estate of Margaret Kilgallen and partial purchase with funds provided by The Judith Rothschild Foundation. Photo: Tony Prikryl Margaret Kilgallen that's where the beauty is. Jan 31, 2020-Jan 2, 2021 ∆ Margaret Kilgallen, Money to Loan (Paintings for the San Francisco Bus Shelter Posters) , 2000. Mixed media on paper and fabric, 68 x 48 1/2 in (172.72 x 123.19 cm). Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Gift of the estate of Margaret Kilgallen and partial purchase with funds provided by The Judith Rothschild Foundation. Photo: Tony Prikryl American artist Margaret Kilgallen (1967–2001) died at the young age of thirty-three, just as her work was gaining recognition and prominence. that’s where the beauty is. , brings to light the astonishing visual complexity of Kilgallen’s short career, highlighting the major themes that unify her multilayered practice. Kilgallen’s work brings front and center an aesthetic that reminds us we need not look only within the commercial mainstream or readily accessible narratives for inspiration and empowerment. Rather she celebrates the handmade, making heroes and heroines of those who live and work in the margins, and challenging traditional gender roles and hierarchies. Her work advocates for a quality of time, celebrating and emphasizing the impact that can come from hard work and individual expression. Organized by moCa’s Chief Curator Courtenay Finn for the Aspen Art Museum, that’s where the beauty is. is Kilgallen’s first posthumous museum exhibition, and the largest presentation of her work to date since her 2005 show, In the Sweet Bye & Bye , at REDCAT, Los Angeles. Working closely with Kilgallen’s estate, the exhibition re-creates versions of pivotal installations and presentations, including her first solo show at The Drawing Center (1997), her first museum exhibition, Hammer Projects: Margaret Kilgallen (2001), and her final installation, Main Drag , created for the exhibition East Meets West at the ICA in Philadelphia (2001). The show pairs key works of Kilgallen’s—now in the collections of the Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art—with never before-seen works from the artist’s estate. Lead sponsorship provided by JOANN. Major support for the exhibition provided by an anonymous donor and the Murphy Foundation. Additional support provided by our WAVE MAKERS.

News + Read more at CAN Journal . by Michael Gill The idea that Ohio’s art scene looks to New York for validation has some sad truth, but sometimes Ohio brings both the spark and the fuel, and New York is just the place where they meet. Such was the case for an upcoming exhibition at moCa Cleveland, which was conceived during a conversation at Frieze—the international contemporary art fair that draws dealers like Gagosian, Pace Gallery, and Hauser & Wirth, among others, from all over the world. Two museum directors from Ohio reconnected while sitting in the lounge there in May of 2023, when they began to talk about their organizations working together on an exhibition. The directors—Megan Lykins Reich, of moCa Cleveland, and Christina Vassallo, of the Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati—had of course crossed paths before. Vassallo was director at SPACES from 2014 to 2019, when she left Cleveland to lead the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. At that time, Reich was deputy director of moCa Cleveland. But when they reconnected, Reich had been promoted to executive director, and Vassallo had taken a new job as executive director of the Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati: two women with Cleveland in common, now leading major contemporary art centers, in opposite corners of the state. Very quickly after they began talking about putting together a show, Ohio became its subject. So together they built Ohio Now: State of Nature, which ran from May to September at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, and opens a Spring 2026 run at moCa Cleveland on January 30. It’s a group show highlighting current practice of artists from around the state, curated by the state’s two largest contemporary art exhibitors, who probably don’t get enough credit for their attention to artists who live here. Ohio’s natural and unnatural landscape offers plenty of complexity for inspiration. The wide-open spaces are dominated by farmland, and farming and food processing are major industries here. On one hand, the land is a source of sustenance. But the way it is used can also be destructive, as when fertilizer runoff has made the water of western Lake Erie undrinkable. Likewise, by fracking and other mining operations, miners work to sustain their families, and mining companies to provide energy—but the process strips the land and causes horrible damage. And Ohio’s post-industrial cities struggle against sprawl, vacancy and poverty, the result of which is a whole other set of land issues and possibilities—including urban farms. The state of nature in Ohio can be a source of pride, optimism, and alarm. It’s a theme that allows for a broad range of perspectives and ideas. The Cleveland connections involved in building the show extend beyond Reich and Vassallo. Northeast Ohio native DJ Hellerman—who earned his MA in art history from Case Western Reserve University and worked at the Progressive Collection here—held curatorial positions in Georgia; Syracuse, New York; and Burlington, Vermont before Vassallo hired him to work at the Fiber Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. He returned to Cleveland when Reich hired him as moCa’s senior curator. Similarly, Theresa Bembnister had already been an intern at moCa before she became curator at the Akron Art Museum, then at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, when Vassallo hired her to take that role at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati. The four tapped their contacts for curatorial connections around the state to find artists whose work related to the theme. + Read the entire story at CANJournal.org . Previous Next

Jul 16, 2021-Jan 2, 2022 Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. Jul 16, 2021-Jan 2, 2022 ∆ Anthony Friedkin, Jim and Mundo, Montebello, East Los Angeles , 1972. From The Gay Essay, 1969–73. Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in. Gift of Anthony Friedkin. ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries. Courtesy of Anthony Friedkin ∆ Anthony Friedkin, Jim and Mundo, Montebello, East Los Angeles , 1972. From The Gay Essay, 1969–73. Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in. Gift of Anthony Friedkin. ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries. Courtesy of Anthony Friedkin Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. Jul 16, 2021-Jan 2, 2022 ∆ Anthony Friedkin, Jim and Mundo, Montebello, East Los Angeles , 1972. From The Gay Essay, 1969–73. Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in. Gift of Anthony Friedkin. ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries. Courtesy of Anthony Friedkin Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. maps the intersections and collaborations among a network of Los Angeles based queer Chicanx artists and their artistic collaborators between the late 1960s and early 1990s. Taking its title in deference to the artist Edmundo “Mundo” Meza (1955-1985), a central figure within his generation, Axis Mundo presents over two decades of work—painting, performance ephemera, print material, video, music, fashion, and photography— created in the context of significant artistic and cultural movements, from the emergence of the Chicanx civil rights, women’s, and LGBTQ liberation movements through to the political activism around the AIDS epidemic. While the exhibition centers on Los Angeles, it reveals new research into the collaborative networks that connected these artists to one another and to artists from many cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, and international urban centers, thus deepening and expanding narratives about the development of the Chicanx Art Movement, performance art, and queer aesthetics and practices. Curated by C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz, Axis Mundo marks the first historical consideration and significant showing of many of these pioneering artists’ work. Artists: Laura Aguilar, Jerri Allyn, Carlos Almaraz, Skot Armstrong, David Arnoff, Steven Arnold, Asco, Judith F. Baca, Alice Bag, Tosh Carrillo, Monte Cazazza, Edward Colver, Vaginal Davis, DIVA TV, Jerry Dreva, Tomata Du Plenty, Simon Doonan, Tomata du Plenty, Elsa Flores, Anthony Friedkin, Harry Gamboa Jr., Roberto Gil de Montes, Gronk, Jef Huereque, Louis Jacinto, Ray Johnson, Alison Knowles, Robert Lambert, Robert Legorreta (Cyclona), Zoe Leonard, Les Petites Bonbons, Scott Lindgren, Mundo Meza, Judy Miranda, Ray Navarro, Nervous Gender, Graciela Gutiérrez Marx and Edgardo Antionio Vigo, Richard Nieblas, Dámaso Ogaz, Pauline Oliveros, Ferrara Brain Pan, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Clemente Padín, Phranc, Ruby Ray, Albert Sanchez, Teddy Sandoval, Joey Terrill, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Patssi Valdez, Ricardo Valverde, Jack Vargas, Gerardo Velázquez, Johanna Went, Faith Wilding Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A. is curated by C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz as part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, an initiative of the Getty to encourage ambitious research and exhibitions at Southern California cultural institutions. The exhibition is organized by ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries in collaboration with The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and organized as a traveling exhibition by Independent Curators International (ICI). Lead support for Axis Mundo is provided through grants from the Getty Foundation. This exhibition is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support has been provided by The Calamus Foundation of New York, Inc., the City of West Hollywood through WeHo Arts—the City’s Arts Division and Arts & Cultural Affairs Commission, Kathleen Garfield, the ONE Archives Foundation, the USC Libraries, and the Luis Balmaseda Fund for Gay & Lesbian Archives, administered by the California Community Foundation. Funding for the exhibition tour has been provided by the generous support from ICI’s International Forum and the ICI Board of Trustees. Crozier Fine Arts is the Preferred Art Logistics Partner.

Jan 24-Jun 1, 2025 Harminder Judge Bootstrap Paradox Jan 24-Jun 1, 2025 ∆ Harminder Judge, Untitled (crept upon leg) (detail) 2024. Plaster, polymer, pigment, scrim, oil, 203 x 198 x 4 cm. Photo: Blythe Thea Williams ∆ Harminder Judge, Untitled (crept upon leg) (detail) 2024. Plaster, polymer, pigment, scrim, oil, 203 x 198 x 4 cm. Photo: Blythe Thea Williams Harminder Judge Bootstrap Paradox Jan 24-Jun 1, 2025 ∆ Harminder Judge, Untitled (crept upon leg) (detail) 2024. Plaster, polymer, pigment, scrim, oil, 203 x 198 x 4 cm. Photo: Blythe Thea Williams Harminder Judge’s first museum exhibition in the U.S. presented at moCa Cleveland, opening January 24, explores themes of alchemy, spiritual processions, and the body’s transformation through death. Judge’s vibrant plaster and pigment works emerge from energetic lines and intuitive processes, where color is embedded into the material, merging sculpture and painting. Influenced by funeral rites and ceremonial burning, his large, dynamic pieces provide a space for powerful emotional responses while exploring the embodied connection between the physical and the spiritual. The exhibition invites viewers to engage with the power of form, color, and abstraction, prompting personal reflection and connection. Major support provided by The Sunday Painter. Generous support provided by Yuval Brisker. About the Artist Harminder Judge. Photo: Sorina Reiber Harminder Judge Harminder Judge (b.1982 Rotherham, UK) lives and works in London. He graduated from the Royal Academy Schools, London in 2021. Selected recent solo exhibitions include: Cliff and Cleft, Gathering, Ibiza, Spain, 2024; A Ghost Dance , Matt’s Gallery & The Sunday Painter, London, UK, 2024; Sea and Stone and Rib and Bone , Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, India, 2023; Frieze London with The Sunday Painter, London, UK 2022; Rising Skin from Rock and Chin , The Sunday Painter, London, UK 2022; Ankles Absorbing Ash , Humber Street Gallery, Hull, UK 2022; Mountains and Mercies , galeriepcp, Paris, France 2021. Selected recent group exhibitions include: It Never Entered My Mind , Curated by Michael Sherman, Sean Kelly Gallery, LA, USA 2024; Picnic at Hanging Rock Chapter I , Sargent’s Daughters, LA, USA 2024; Curated By: Glossary , Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria 2023; The Reason for Painting , Mead Gallery, Warwick, UK 2023; Love Letter, Pace Gallery, New York City, USA 2023; And this skin of mine , Guts Gallery, London, UK 2022; New Beginnings , Blindspot Gallery, Hong Kong, 2022; The Horror Show! , Somerset House, London, UK 2022; A Grain of Sand , The Sunday Painter, London, UK 2021; Am I Human To You? , Jugendstilsenteret & Kube Museum, Ålesund, Norway 2021; Tomorrow: London , White Cube, London, UK 2020; Our Ashes Make Great Fertilizer , Public Gallery, London, UK 2020; At Home In The Universe, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, India 2019 and A Plot For The Multiverse , Indigo + Madder, London, UK 2019. Installation Images Harminder Judge, Bootstrap Paradox. Installation views at moCa Cleveland, 2025. Photos: Jacob Koestler

Jul 7, 2023-Jan 7, 2024 Don't mind if I do Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo Pelenakeke Brown Sky Cubacub Emilie L. Gossiaux Felicia Griffin Joselia Rebekah Hughes Jeff Kasper and Finnegan Shannon Jul 7, 2023-Jan 7, 2024 ∆ Don't mind if I do , installation at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photo: Jacob Koestler ∆ Don't mind if I do , installation at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photo: Jacob Koestler Don't mind if I do Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo Pelenakeke Brown Sky Cubacub Emilie L. Gossiaux Felicia Griffin Joselia Rebekah Hughes Jeff Kasper and Finnegan Shannon Jul 7, 2023-Jan 7, 2024 ∆ Don't mind if I do , installation at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photo: Jacob Koestler Organized in collaboration with Finnegan Shannon Finnegan Shannon is a creator of loopholes. Their work is mischievous, methodically chipping away at traditional museum practices. By framing institutional change as artwork, the pace of possibility quickens. With Shannon at the helm, Don’t mind if I do is an experiment in more deeply collaborative exhibition-making, demonstrating how even temporary changes in power structures create pathways of access for visitors, artists, and staff. Grounded in a longtime fantasy of the artist’s–an idea of an exhibition setup that would lavishly meet their access needs–this project developed around a conveyor belt. Embraced for its efficiency and mechanized transport of goods (even sushi), this equipment is reappropriated here as a vehicle for cultivating a more relaxed museum-going experience. The conveyor belt brings artwork to audience members, who are invited to sit on comfortable furniture and engage with a parade of objects through any combination of touch, sight, and sound. Sharing the work of seven artists who have influenced Shannon’s practice, Don’t mind if I do blurs boundaries between public and private. It puts representations of everyday life that are usually tucked away at home on display. Plastic pill bottles scattered across nightstands share space with a tissue box cover that reminds us of moments of sickness and sadness. Sculptural snapshots of an intimate interspecies bond sit beside gender-affirming packers that feel most at home tucked inside our clothes. They signify illness, reveal systems of support, and are used in play. Don’t mind if I do destabilizes rigid ableist and exclusionary museum “best practices” like sparse seating, untouchable objects, dense wall labels, and guards who protect rather than invite engagement. It is a project built upon a framework of flexibility. By welcoming glitches, inviting informality and messiness, and unsettling the hierarchy of objects, Don’t mind if I do prioritizes people over artwork and makes more room for us to show up as our full selves. A NOTE FROM FINNEGAN SHANNON: This project is the realization of my access fantasy !! I’m disabled and I need to sit and I love to sit. I’ve been dreaming about an exhibition where instead of having to move from artwork to artwork, I could sit somewhere comfortable and have the artwork come to me. So voilà! A conveyor belt of artworks surrounded by a variety of seating options. When planning this project, a big question was: what artwork should the conveyor carry? The artists, writers, and thinkers featured nourish my life and practice, and I can’t resist a chance to share their work. Each of the objects presented asks for varied ways of interacting and opens up possibilities for how and what an artwork can convey. Don’t mind if I do, Finnegan Shannon The Lewis Gallery is accessible via elevator. Accessible gendered bathrooms are on the ground level and single-stall gender-neutral bathrooms are located on the third floor. All the artwork in this show can be touched. Seating and audio description are both available as a part of the show. The conveyor belt motor makes a soft but high-pitched ringing sound; we have disposable earplugs available. The space will have three air purifiers. Please wear a mask when visiting this exhibition in solidarity with the artists and your fellow visitors. Generous support provided by the Ford Foundation. Additional support provided by David C. Lamb. About the Artists Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo (they/them/Lukaza) is an artist, activist, educator, storyteller, cultural worker, and person of multitudes. Through a practice based in the printed multiple, community-based work, painting, performance and installation building, they invite the viewer to recall and share their own lived narratives, offering power and weight to the creation of a larger dialogue around the telling of B.I.Q.T.P.O.C. (Black, Indigenous, Queer, Trans, People of color) stories. Branfman-Verissimo has had solo shows at SEPTEMBER Gallery, Deli Gallery, Roll Up Projects, Printed Matter Inc., and STNDRD Projects. Their work has been included in exhibitions and performances at Konsthall C, EFA Project Space, Leslie Lohman Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and L’Internationale Online, amongst others. They have been awarded residencies and fellowships at The University of New Mexico, Black Space Residency, Kala Art Center, Women’s Studio Workshop, and ACRE Residency. Branfman-Verissimo’s artist books and printed editions have been published by Endless Editions, Childish Books, Press Press and Printed Matter Inc. and are in permanent collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, California College of the Arts Printmaking Archive, University of California Santa Cruz Library, New York University Special Collections, and San Francisco Museum of Art Library. Pelenakeke Brown. Photo credit, Papa clothing x Emily Parr. Pelenakeke Brown Pelenakeke Brown (she/her) is a queer, crip, indigenous artist and writer. Brown's practice explores the intersections between disability theory and Sāmoan concepts. Her work investigates sites of knowledge(s), and she uses technology, writing, poetry, and performance to explore these ideas. Brown has worked with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gibney Dance Center, The New York Library for the Performing Arts, Gibney Dance Center, The Goethe Institute, and other institutions globally. Selected residencies include Eyebeam, The Laundromat Project, and Dance/NYC. She has performed and exhibited her work in the US, UK and Germany. Her non-fiction creative work has been published in The Hawai‘i Review, Apogee Journal, and the Movement Research Performance Journal. Her work has been featured in Art in America and she was recognized in 2020 with a Creative New Zealand Pacific Toa award. Sky Cubacub. Photo by @colectivomultipolar. Sky Cubacub Sky Cubacub (they/them/xey/xem/xyr) is a non-binary xenogender and disabled Filipinx neuroqueer from Chicago, IL. As a multidisciplinary artist, Cubacub is interested in fulfilling the needs for disabled queer life, with an emphasis on joy. They are the creator of Rebirth Garments, a line of wearables for trans, queer and disabled people of all sizes and ages, and Radical Fit, a queer fashion series of programming in partnership with the Chicago Public Library. Cubacub is the editor of the Radical Visibility Zine , which celebrates disabled queer life, and are the Access Brat and editor of Just Femme and Dandy’s section about ethics and inclusion called “Cancel & Gretel.” They have had over 50 fashion performances and have lectured at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, the University of Utah, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Northwestern University. Rebirth Garments has been featured in Teen Vogue, Nylon, Playboy, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Vice, Wussy Mag , and the New York Times . Cubacub was named 2018 Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune and is a 2019/2020 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist and a Disability Futures Fellow. Emilie L. Gossiaux Emilie L. Gossiaux Emilie L. Gossiaux (she/her) received a BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art and an MFA from Yale School of Art. Since losing her vision due to a traffic accident in 2010, Gossiaux’s altered experiences have influenced her practice's trajectory—drawing inspiration from dreams, memories, and non-visual sensory perceptions. Her drawings and ceramics pertain to bodily autonomy, exploring themes such as love, intimacy, and the interdependent relationships between humans and non-human species. Much of her work is inspired by the interspecies bond she has with her Guide Dog, London, and celebrates disability pride. Simultaneously, she disrupts the Anthropocene understanding of agency and the hierarchic ordering between humans and animals. Solo shows include Significant Otherness and Memory of a Body, both at Mother Gallery, and After Image at False Flag Gallery. Gossiaux has also participated in group shows at the John Michael Kohler Art Center, the Aldrich Museum, Gallery 400, MoMA PS1, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, and SculptureCenter. Awards include a John F. Kennedy Center VSA Prize, the Wynn Newhouse Award, the Colene Brown Art Prize, and The Queens Museum Jerome Foundation Fellowship. Her work has been featured in The Brooklyn Rail, The New Yorker, and Art in America. Felicia Griffin. Photo credit: Andria Lo. Felicia Griffin Felicia Griffin (she/her) is a prolific multimedia artist based in Richmond, California. She has been exhibiting work with Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development (NIAD) Art Center since 1985. The following is an edited excerpt from a conversation between Felicia Griffin and former NIAD art facilitator Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo. The complete interview can be found in Issue 6 of New Life Quarterly, published by E.M. Wolfman Books. What would you like us to know about you? Who is Felecia Griffin? Um, well, I like to…have fun and I love my friends and I want to do some more pompoms and I like doing my art. What are you working on right now? A pompom. I made two pillows and put pompoms on the pillows. Why do you like to make art that involves circles? That’s a repeated shape in your pompoms, prints, and paintings — where does that circle shape come from? The circle is inside of me, a square too. I see it in the world too. You engage with a lot of people while you work—how does that relate to your art making? Yep, I like doing it and um, I like to help out. It makes me feel happy! I started doing this: giving gifts. I am always looking out for who needs help. Do you consider [other artists] your family? YEEEAAAAS! I care for people — yes! A work by Joselia Rebekah Hughes Joselia Rebekah Hughes Joselia Rebekah Hughes (she/her) is a Mad and disabled Afro-Caribbean writer, artist, and educator based in the Bronx. She is a poetry editor at Apogee Journal. Hughes’s work hops in the lineage of Black disabled aesthetics and linguistics of access. She uses wordplay, oral traditions, and the archetype of The Fool as measures to question and provoke societal perceptions and values regarding chronic illness, Madness, neurodivergence, and disability. Her practicing mediums include video and photography, dance, literature, small sculpture, fiber work, drawing, zine-making, and drawing/painting. She's shared work at the Institute of Contemporary Art: VCU, Participant Inc., Lincoln Center, MoMA, Leslie Lohman Museum, Bard, Swarthmore, Whitney Museum of American Art, and elsewhere. Hughes’s poetry has been nominated for Best of Net and has been published in Apogee Journal, Massachusetts Review, The Poetry Project, Split This Rock, Blackflash Magazine, Leste Magazine, Jewish Currents, and Ocean State Review. Jeff Kasper Jeff Kasper Jeff Kasper (he/him) is an artist, writer, and educator. He works with the tools and techniques of design, contemplative practices, and community engagement, to create public art, publications, open editions, workshops, and participatory learning projects. His artworks center dialogical, reflective, and instructional texts that often prompt meditation, relationship building, and serious play. Based on his own lived experiences and observations, much of his recent projects explore topics of support, safety, and proximity. Through his disability arts organizing, he opens up spaces for (re)imagining accessible and trauma-aware futures. His recent exhibitions have been presented internationally, including with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, Meta Open Arts, and Queens Museum, and his past public programs have been facilitated with BRIC, CUE Art Foundation, and moCa Cleveland. Kasper is Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Department of Art. Finnegan Shannon Finnegan Shannon Finnegan Shannon (they/them) is a project-based artist. They experiment with forms of access that intervene in ableist structures with humor, earnestness, rage, and delight. Some of their recent work includes Anti-Stairs Club Lounge, an ongoing project that gathers people together who share an aversion to stairs; Alt-Text as Poetry, a collaboration with Bojana Coklyat that explores the expressive potential of image description; and Do You Want Us Here or Not, a series of benches and cushions designed for exhibition spaces. They have done projects with Banff Centre, Queens Museum, the High Line, MMK Frankfurt, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and Nook Gallery. Their work has been supported by a 2018 Wynn Newhouse Award, a 2019 residency at Eyebeam, 2020 grant from Art Matters Foundation, and a 2022 grant from The Canada Council for the Arts. Their work has been written about in Art in America, BOMB Magazine, The Believer, and the New York Times. They live and work in Brooklyn, NY. Installation Images Don't mind if I do . Installation views at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photos: Jacob Koestler

Jan 24-Jun 1, 2025 Birthing Beautiful Communities Dear Jan 24-Jun 1, 2025 ∆ Photo: shark&minnow ∆ Photo: shark&minnow Birthing Beautiful Communities Dear Jan 24-Jun 1, 2025 ∆ Photo: shark&minnow Dear is a tribute to the strength, resilience, and beauty of Black motherhood and the community that supports it. This exhibition focuses on the Cleveland non-profit Birthing Beautiful Communities, highlighting the significance of care and affirmation in their work. Dear is an ode to the power of community and the enduring bond of motherhood. Presented in partnership with Birthing Beautiful Communities & moCa Cleveland. Generous support provided by The George Gund Foundation. Exhibition creation & design: shark&minnow Photography: Dana McKinney, shark&minnow Videography: Ashwin Gokhale, shark&minnow A special thanks to: Tonya, Myesha, Deyonni, Heather, Sylest, and Nautica for their courage, resilience, and openness in sharing their stories and villages to inspire and uplift others. We are honored to celebrate your journey and the joy they each have brought to this exhibit. The doulas at Birthing Beautiful Communities for their continued work in supporting mothers, babies, and families in the journey of parenthood. Installation Images Birthing Beautiful Communities, Dear. Installation views at moCa Cleveland, 2025. Photos: Jacob Koestler

Feb 18-Jun 5, 2021 Imagine Otherwise Shikeith Imani Dennison Amber N. Ford Antwoine Washington Feb 18-Jun 5, 2021 ∆ Shikeith, Still Waters Run Deep (still), 2021, installation with video, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist. ∆ Shikeith, Still Waters Run Deep (still), 2021, installation with video, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist. Imagine Otherwise Shikeith Imani Dennison Amber N. Ford Antwoine Washington Feb 18-Jun 5, 2021 ∆ Shikeith, Still Waters Run Deep (still), 2021, installation with video, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist. “What happens when we proceed as if we know this, antiBlackness, to be the ground on which we stand, the ground from which we to attempt to speak, for instance, an “I” or a “we” who know, an “I” or a “we” who care?"—Christina Sharpe, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being Imagine Otherwise expresses the boundlessness and fierceness of Black imagination and love despite ongoing antiBlack violence as it thinks with Christina Sharpe’s groundbreaking book In the Wake: On Blackness and Being . Featuring artists Shikeith, Imani Dennison, Amber N. Ford, and Antwoine Washington, this multimedia exhibition spotlights Black pathways to self-determination and collective liberation through photographic, sculptural, mixed media, and video-based installations. This careful navigation, or “wake work,” to use Sharpe’s term, operates beyond representational politics as it interrogates spatial and temporal tensions of disenfranchisement, resistance, memory, visibility, loss, and (re)invention across Black cultures. Shikeith explores how Black queer re-making is a sacred space and practice in his two-part installation, still waters run deep / fall in your ways (2021). Using poetry, historical narratives, ambient recordings of children's rhymes, shades of blue, dance, and organic elements such as water, Shikeith maps Black men's negotiations of intimacy and routes toward freedom beyond architectural and societal constraints. Imani Dennison’s NO MAS- Irreversible Entanglements (2020), filmed on location in Johannesburg, South Africa, offers a dream-like meditation. In only eight minutes, vibrant imagery coupled with the fluid, yet energetic, free jazz and poetry of the Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC-based group Irreversible Entanglements presents an intoxicating, otherworldly Afro-futurist vision of Black people escaping all terrestrial confinements. Amber N. Ford’s detailed photographic attention to relationships of subjects and infinite patterning zooms in and out through Strands, Tracks & Naps (2021). Reminiscent of a display of coiffures in a hair salon, lush color portraits, small studies, and collage superimposed on a dense close-up of passion twists express the vast geography of Black ways of being. Antwoine Washington employs domestic furnishings and murals as visual storytelling in And Yeah, About that Seat at the Table (2021). The artist’s multimedia installation highlights how that proverbial access point to power is illusory for most Black people, while also honoring a long history of Black self-making. Organized by La Tanya S. Autry, Gund Curator in Residence, moCa Cleveland’s first on-staff Black curator creating exhibitions in its 52-year history, Imagine Otherwise is unlike any other curatorial project funded by the institution. As a manifestation of “wake work,” this city-wide initiative is sited at moCa Cleveland (Shikeith), ThirdSpace Action Lab in Glenville (Imani Dennison and Amber N. Ford), and Museum of Creative Human Art /Larchmere Arts (Antwoine Washington). Autry envisions possibilities beyond moCa Cleveland’s consistent antiBlack practices by partnering with these Black-led and centered organizations that regularly care for Black residents and others while challenged with far smaller budgets than many area white-led and centered arts institutions. Offered during another heightened time of national racial crisis, Imagine Otherwise is a limited, yet hopefully, significant prodding for an authentic, community-led institutional reckoning of moCa Cleveland and a soulful salute to the city’s Black dwellers who persist by always imagining otherwise. Exhibition locations ThirdSpace Action Lab , Glenville 1464 E 105th St #302, Cleveland, OH 44106 Museum of Creative Human Art (MOCHA) presented at Larchmere Arts 12726 Larchmere Blvd, Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (moCa) , Cleveland 11400 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106 About the Artists Shikeith Shikeith (b. 1989 in Philadelphia, PA) lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA. He received a BA from The Pennsylvania State University (2010) and an MFA in Sculpture from The Yale School of Art (2018). His expansive practice investigates the experiences of black men within and around concepts of psychic space, the blues, and black queer fugitivity. He has shared his work nationally and internationally through recent exhibitions and screenings that include The Language Must Not Sweat , Locust Projects, Miami, FL; Notes Towards Becoming A Spill , Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA; Shikeith: This was his body/His body finally his , MAK Gallery, London, UK; Go Tell It: Civil Rights Photography , Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; A Drop of Sun Under The Earth , MOCA LA, Los Angeles, CA; Labor Relations, Wroclaw Contemporary Museum, Poland; and Black Intimacy: An Evening With Shikeith , MoMA, New York, NY. Recent awards include the Painters & Sculptors Grant from The Joan Mitchell Foundation (2019), Art Matters Foundation Grant (2020), Leslie Lohman Museum Artist Fellowship (2020-2021). Imani Dennison Imani Dennison is a Multi-Hyphenate Creative, born in Louisville, Kentucky. Imani graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC where she studied Political Science and Photography. Upon completing her degree at Howard, she went on to earn a certificate in Photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa. Imani has been working as a Cinematographer based in Brooklyn New York where she has lensed short films, documentaries, branded campaigns and music videos. Imani's work explores themes of surrealism, Blackness, and Fantasy. Imani also works as a Photographer and has created bodies of portraiture and documentary work exploring global Blackness. Amber N. Ford Amber N. Ford is an artist based in Cleveland, OH. She received her BFA in Photography from the Cleveland Institute of Art (2016). Interested in race, and identity, she is best known for her work in portraiture, which she considers a “collaborative engagement between photographer and sitter.” Her work has been featured in exhibitions at Kent State University, Transformer Station, SPACES Gallery, The Morgan Conservatory, The Cleveland Print Room, Zygote Press, Waterloo Arts and in outdoor public space on the Capitol Theatre Building located at the corner of Detroit and West 65th. Recent awards include Gordon Square Arts District Artist-In-Residence (2019) and the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award (2017). Antoine Washington Antoine Washington, originally from Pontiac, MI, lives and works in Cleveland, OH. With his wife Carlise Washington, he has two children, Grayson and Luca. He earned his BA in Studio Art from Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, LA. His studies of black history and art at Southern inspired Washington to continue the legacy of Harlem Renaissance artists such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jacob Lawrence. Following a stroke he suffered in 2018, Washington found healing in his art. He has exhibited widely at the Cleveland Print Room, Worthington Yards, The Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Rooms to Let and Artist Archives of the Western Reserve. His public art commission with Land Studios includes his 154 years mural located in Cleveland Public Square. In 2020, Washington co-founded Museum of Creative Human Art, a non-profit organization centered on teaching art.

Oct 8-Nov 7, 2021 Lawrence Baker Taking Another Look Oct 8-Nov 7, 2021 ∆ Lawrence Baker, Invitation 1 . Graphite on paper, 40 x 60 in. Courtesy the artist. ∆ Lawrence Baker, Invitation 1 . Graphite on paper, 40 x 60 in. Courtesy the artist. Lawrence Baker Taking Another Look Oct 8-Nov 7, 2021 ∆ Lawrence Baker, Invitation 1 . Graphite on paper, 40 x 60 in. Courtesy the artist. The Museum of Creative Human Art presents Taking Another Look, a collection of drawings on paper by Lawrence Baker. With his preferred media of graphite, he experiments with color washes and composition to create images of elements found in nature. Influenced by landscape artists, especially Vincent Van Gogh, Baker prioritizes aesthetic choices when expressing himself through his work. During his process of creation, Baker states that his, “mind becomes like unperturbed water: clear, stripped bare, and unencumbered.” He remarks, “As I stand before each blank canvas, my universe becomes the white of the paper and the black of the graphite...Naked is how I came into the world and this is how I approach my work. The emotional baggage that I carry every waking moment of my life is set aside; although in the end, it somehow is manifested in the finished art. I only take what nature provides, making images from what I see and creating a vision that will exceed the sum of its parts.” Presented in partnership w/ About the Artist Lawrence Baker. Photo: Alvin Smith/The Urban Design Suit Lawrence Baker I was born in Jacksonville, Florida during the late 1940's, where dreams were dangerous and notions of high self-esteem were deadly for young Bblack males. In a published book ( Middle Passage: The Artistic Life of Lawrence Baker by Louis B. Burroughs Jr.), I share stories of my torn relationships, the magnetism of the streets, and how art became the canvas for my particular portrayal of life. For me, life became a series of calculations; any miscalculations would have led to my undoing. My sometime successes nourished me. I chose art as my vehicle to seek out some of those successes. Though over a period of twenty to thirty years off and on of seeking higher education, I always made an effort to continue learning in some capacity. Some of those steps of continued learning included receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in Education, Masters of Arts, and Master of Fine Arts from Kent State University, Kent Ohio (1989). I also was the recipient of a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio. Even while reaching for higher education, I continued on seeking acknowledgements for my art. I continued pursuing art to achieve as many successes as possible. Some of my early solo art exhibitions took place at Karamu House, Cleveland, Ohio (1983); Trumbull Art Gallery (1995); Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, Ohio (2002); Mississippi Valley State University, Ita Bena, Mississippi (2003); Alabama A&M University, Huntsville, Alabama (2006); Erie Art Museum, Erie Pennsylvania, and Cleveland Botanical Gardens , Cleveland, Ohio (both 2007). Some of my selected group art exhibitions include: Annual NOVA Painting Show at Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, (1982); Afro-American Artist Invitational Exhibition at Lakewood Community College, Mentor, Ohio (1984); Each in their Own Voices, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, and Andrews Art Museum, Andrews, North Carolina (both 2009). I have been seeking acknowledgement for my endeavors into fine arts for more than fifty years. In a lot of instances, I have sorted out those efforts through competitive international, national, and local competitions. I have also tried through recognition from foundations with some relations to visual arts. One of my most recent accomplishments was being recognized by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2 017. Some of the most recent competitions include: t he 33rd Annual Tallahassee International , Tallahassee Museum of Fine Arts; the 39th Annual Paper in Particular National Exhibition , Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri, the 46th International Exhibition , Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts, Brownsville, Texas (Third Place), and the 61st Chautauqua Annual Art Exhibition , Chautauqua, New York (all 2018). —Lawrence Baker

Oct 22-Nov 29, 2020 Nina Katchadourian Monument to the Unelected Oct 22-Nov 29, 2020 ∆ Installation at moCa: Nina Katchadourian, Monument to the Unelected 2008–ongoing, 58 screen-prints on coroplast, rebar, cable. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist, Catherine Clark Gallery, and Pace Gallery ∆ Installation at moCa: Nina Katchadourian, Monument to the Unelected 2008–ongoing, 58 screen-prints on coroplast, rebar, cable. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist, Catherine Clark Gallery, and Pace Gallery Nina Katchadourian Monument to the Unelected Oct 22-Nov 29, 2020 ∆ Installation at moCa: Nina Katchadourian, Monument to the Unelected 2008–ongoing, 58 screen-prints on coroplast, rebar, cable. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist, Catherine Clark Gallery, and Pace Gallery Concurrently at moCa Cleveland: 11400 Euclid Avenue and Transformer Station : 1460 W 29th Street Artist Nina Katchadourian (b. 1968) works across various media—including photography, sculpture, video, and sound—using humor and ingenuity in service of what she calls “productive confusion.” Often working outside the studio or museum, Katchadourian has created pieces in libraries, in trees, on airplanes, and in parking lots. She has collaborated with zookeepers, musicians, United Nations translators, Morse code operators, animals, as well as her own parents. The result is a playful and poignant practice, one that pushes us to see our everyday surroundings as a site of discovery and possibility. Katchadourian’s Monument to the Unelected (2008–ongoing), is a set of lawn signs created by the artist featuring the names of every candidate who ran for President of the United States and lost. Installed outside moCa Cleveland on the corner of Mayfield Road and Euclid Avenue, and outside Transformer Station in their front lawn, Monument to the Unelected runs from October 22 to November 22, spanning the time before and after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Once the election results are official, a 59th sign with the name of the losing candidate will be added to the installation. Monument to the Unelected was originally commissioned by the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art during the run-up to the 2008 presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain. During her time in Arizona, Katchadourian was struck by the proliferation of campaign signs on lawns, in vacant lots, and at busy intersections in what has historically been a swing state. “The signs struck me as a particularly American phenomenon, and one that was worthy of closer investigation,” she said. “These markers tend to crop up in the weeks leading up to an election, after which they disappear, with some of the names going on to take office and others being largely forgotten.” Shown during every presidential election since the work’s inception in 2008, Monument to the Unelected serves as a reminder of our country’s collective political road not taken. It does not reflect any particular political viewpoint or endorse any specific party, but rather articulates the transition of power within U.S. history. As a monument to those who have lost, Katchadourian’s work is an invitation to consider missed opportunities and alternative histories, all of which can inform the decisions we make today.

Jul 16-Aug 15, 2021 Aawful Aaron by Aaron D. Williams Jul 16-Aug 15, 2021 ∆ Aaron D. Williams, A Reinvented Self I , 2021, Alcohol marker and colored pencil on Bristol paper, 17” X 14” ∆ Aaron D. Williams, A Reinvented Self I , 2021, Alcohol marker and colored pencil on Bristol paper, 17” X 14” Aawful Aaron by Aaron D. Williams Jul 16-Aug 15, 2021 ∆ Aaron D. Williams, A Reinvented Self I , 2021, Alcohol marker and colored pencil on Bristol paper, 17” X 14” Presented in partnership w/ Museum of Creative Human Art and moCa Cleveland Aawful Aaron uses sports as an entry point to assist audiences in more deeply understanding anxiety and mental health struggles. This exhibition destigmatized open conversations about mental health, especially as they relate to black males. Using mainstream sports including basketball and football, and those often overlooked like chess and sword fencing, Aawful Aaron conveys a “game against anxiety” through different lenses with the intention of bringing together a multiplicity of sports fans to appreciate the nuanced ways in which we experience mental health. Presented in partnership w/ About the Artist Aaron D. Williams Aaron D. Williams More about Aaron D. Williams at instagram.com/aawfulaaron .

Jul 7, 2023-Jan 7, 2024 ¡Juntos! (Together) Nathalie Bermudez Amelia Casiano J. Leigh Garcia Camilo Gonzalez Barragan Hugo Ivan Juarez (Alatorre) Kenron Morgan, Jr and Marilyn Oliveras de Ortiz Jul 7, 2023-Jan 7, 2024 ∆ ¡Juntos! (Together) installation at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photo: Jacob Koestler. ∆ ¡Juntos! (Together) installation at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photo: Jacob Koestler. ¡Juntos! (Together) Nathalie Bermudez Amelia Casiano J. Leigh Garcia Camilo Gonzalez Barragan Hugo Ivan Juarez (Alatorre) Kenron Morgan, Jr and Marilyn Oliveras de Ortiz Jul 7, 2023-Jan 7, 2024 ∆ ¡Juntos! (Together) installation at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photo: Jacob Koestler. Presented in partnership w/ Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center and moCa Cleveland From Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center: ¡Juntos! (Together): A group of persons joined for a common purpose. ¡Juntos! (Together) tells the extraordinary tale of a diverse group of Cleveland Latino artists who, though strangers, embark on an exceptional journey of artistic creation for this exhibition. United by a common purpose, these individuals transcend their distinct backgrounds and unique artistic styles to collaboratively craft captivating pieces. In the vibrant tapestry of their shared Latino heritage and unwavering passion, cultural bonds form, celebrating the richness and diversity of Latino artistry and history. Through their remarkable creations, they intimately express stories of their family history and personal artistic journeys. With support from moCa staff, this cohort receives invaluable mentorship from two esteemed artists, Bruno Casiano and Ariel Vergez. These established artists and industry professionals play a pivotal role in nurturing and empowering the emerging talents, offering guidance, advice, and encouragement. Their mentorship enriches the artists' creative development, fostering an environment where artistic expression flourishes. As the residency progresses, these artists form a tightly-knit familia, sharing their unique perspectives, techniques, and experiences with one another. Every brushstroke and vibrant hue, every ounce of glue applied to their creations reflects not only their individual talents but also the profound collective spirit that emerges when Latino artists come together. Through the power of unity and collaboration, the Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center proudly presents ¡Juntos! , an exhibition that showcases the incredible artistry and unyielding spirit of these extraordinary artists. Presented in partnership w/ About the Artists Nathalie Bermudez Nathalie Bermudez Nathalie Bermudez (she/her) is a Colombian painter, digital artist, muralist, and actor who came to the United States in 2015 to pursue her career as an artist. She began painting after moving to the U.S. as a way to remain connected to her culture. Through her work, Bermudez shares her personal story and perspective of the world around us. Bermudez has exhibited work and contributed to numerous large-scale projects throughout Cleveland and has collaborated with global brands including Samsung Mobile USA and Shein. In 2022, she worked alongside Alicia Vasquez to create a mural in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square. In addition to her painting practice, Bermudez is an actor. She has performed with Teatro Publico de Cleveland and from 2018-2021, was a part of the LatinUS Theater Company. She received her Associate of Arts from Cuyahoga Community College and is currently studying visual art and theater at Cleveland State University. Amelia Casiano Amelia Casiano Amelia Casiano (she/her) is a mixed media artist from the Near West side of Cleveland, OH. Formally trained as a graphic designer, she layers techniques she learned as a student at Baldwin Wallace University into her paintings and collages. Employing vibrant colors and abstract forms, Casiano expresses her personal history as a Latina growing up in America, often incorporating found objects into her work as a method of sharing her Puerto Rican heritage. She uses her own story as a jumping off point that extends outwards to highlight the interconnectedness of different cultures within her community. Casiano draws inspiration from music, fashion, and her peers to explore womanhood, emotional connectivity, and her relationship to the world around us. J. Leigh Garcia J. Leigh Garcia J. Leigh Garcia (she/her) is an artist born and raised in Dallas, TX. Following the roots of her biracial ancestry, Garcia explores the complex relationship between Texans and Mexicans—particularly, the racialization and displacement of unauthorized Latinx immigrants. Using printmaking, papermaking, and sculpture, Garcia explores her familial history while highlighting aspects of racial and generational privilege/oppression. Garcia received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and BFA from the University of North Texas. Her work is included in over 15 permanent collections including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI; National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL; and Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX. Garcia currently lives in Kent, OH where she is an Assistant Professor and Co-Area Head of Print Media and Photography at Kent State University . Camilo Gonzalez Barragan Camilo Gonzalez Barragan Camilo Gonzalez Barragan (he/him) is an artist from Bogotá, Colombia, where he studied film and television production at the UNITEC University of Colombia. He uses analog photography to develop his ideas and share his stories while simultaneously creating longform audiovisual projects. Gonzalez Barragan draws inspiration from film, music, and painting, using elements from these media to create work rooted in his personal experiences and dreams. Themes explored in his work include: melancholy, nostalgia, freedom, silence, loneliness, and forgetfulness. Gonzalez Barragan’s work has been published in magazines including The Paradox Magazine and Classics Magazine , and in exhibitions at Hardy & Nance Studio and the Cleveland Print Room. He currently lives and works in Cleveland, OH, where he has found inspiration in the magic of its forests, streets, and people. Hugo Ivan Juarez (Alatorre) Hugo Ivan Juarez (Alatorre) Hugo Ivan Juarez (Alatorre) (he/him) was born and raised in his beloved Dallas, TX. He grew up with children of millionaires but mostly identifies with immigrant culture and brownness. While in high school, art class became his sanctuary and upon graduating, he created a clothing line to further harness his creative energy. These initial interests led him to study graphic design and art education, but he eventually discovered the wonderful world of printmaking. Printmaking became a vehicle for his education and in 2022, he began his academic career as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Akron. Juarez believes that artists are the most powerful people in the world and his practice consists of making friends, supporting other artists, and searching for teachers. His work manifests itself through conversation, infiltration, and teaching. Materially, he works with anything he can get his hands on. Kenron Morgan, Jr. Kenron Morgan, Jr. Kenron Morgan Jr, Founder of Art School Reject Club, is an award winning multi-media artist, based in Cleveland, OH. As the name describes, Kenron is a self taught artist. His works show a variety of characters detailing a self-expressive journey through culture, sexuality, and self. Morgan Jr. transports audiences to a world of his own creation, displaying alternate realities that suggest a reflection of something familiar. The artist’s work has been included in RTA public transportation’s Dressing the Part , Akron Hospital’s Show Me Love , and most recently, Summit Art Space’s The Twins. Morgan Jr. has received awards for his work including Dressing the Part and High & Lows. He has also had the opportunity to give back to his community raising funds for creative youth development. Marilyn Oliveras de Orti Marilyn Oliveras de Ortiz Marilyn Oliveras de Ortiz (she/her) is a poet and mixed media artist, first generation born in Cleveland Ohio of Puerto Rican heritage. Her creative interests began at an early age when the women in her family gathered around the table as makers and storytellers. They made paper flowers, dolls, Capias, and other party favors for social events while sharing stories in the oral traditions of Puerto Rico. These family gatherings inspired cultural teachings and sparked Oliveras de Ortiz’s imagination in both the literary and visual arts. Her lifelong profession working in the affordable housing industry in urban communities further inspired her to write and create art that reflected and advocated for real life social issues of poverty, homelessness, domestic violence and the human instinct of survival. As one of the first arts & crafts instructors at Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center, she facilitated workshops creating Vejigante Masks made of paper mâché and sharing about their historical significance during island festivals, she realized a calling for cultural preservation. Oliveras de Ortiz continues to explore methods in mask-making, using mediums including polymer clays and walnut shells. In her expansive practice, she uses photography, painting, jewelry-making, and upcycling techniques, and creates public installations for Dia de Muertos celebrations. Installation Images ¡Juntos! (Together) . Installation views at moCa Cleveland, 2023. Photos: Jacob Koestler

Jun 28-Dec 29, 2024 Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya Skinchangers: Begotten of my Flesh Jun 28-Dec 29, 2024 ∆ Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, As I willed myself out of entropy, 2022 ∆ Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, As I willed myself out of entropy, 2022 Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya Skinchangers: Begotten of my Flesh Jun 28-Dec 29, 2024 ∆ Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, As I willed myself out of entropy, 2022 2024 Toby's Prize Exhibition Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya presents a new body of work in his first solo museum exhibition, Skinchangers: Begotten of my Flesh, opening June 2024. This show expands upon the artist’s 2022 exhibition at Sargent’s Daughters entitled James Webb and the Thestral Born Without a Vertebrae , which shares the story of a vampire forced to reconstitute its body from space debris following the destruction of the last spaceship leaving an apocalypse-ravaged Earth. A work of speculative fiction, Skinchangers: Begotten of my Flesh collapses linear time, fueling our anxiety of the unfamiliar while demanding reflection on how histories of abuse allow for a future seepage of toxicity. Using expanded polystyrene as a building block (after all, what material other than plastic can survive the end of the world?), Montoya transforms moCa’s Lewis Gallery into the interior of this last spaceship, complete with a celestial soundtrack that draws us into the darkness of the unknown. Mythical, shape-shifting creatures known as Nahuales that hatched aboard the vessel during an eon of astral travel hang from the spacecraft’s ceiling. Hovering in antigravity yet tethered to the ship’s architecture, their eternal home serves as both captor and protector. These Nahuales are a part of the artist’ cast of characters, cohabitating with their vampiric guardian and the spacecraft’s mainframe, which itself is a sentient being, the beating heart that fuels the vessel throttling through space. Made from detritus of capitalist consumption, vestiges of the sentient, and materials that teeter on the edge of abjection, Montoya’s alchemical creatures feed off each other. They are stand-ins for the human body, used to explore how violence erases and eradicates communities of color. In this future apocalypse, processes of decay, regeneration, and shapeshifting for protection and survival graft new meaning upon our understandings of an “ecosystem.” In addition to the exhibition, Montoya is designing a suite of activities for audience engagement and creating his first publication (available in Fall 2024). He is the third recipient of Toby’s Prize, a biannual award sponsored by philanthropist Toby Devan Lewis (1934-2022) and created to advance the work of emerging artists through exhibitions and publications. This exhibition is presented through Toby’s Prize, a biennial award made possible by Toby Devan Lewis. About the Artist Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya (b.1989 in Parral, Mexico) is based in Mexico City. Montoya received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020. Montoya creates sculptures that are fantastic beings centered around anthologies and social issues concerning border culture, abjection, adaptation, and mestizaje. Montoya’s practice is aided by Speculative Fiction, Nahualismo, Sci-Fi, and the labor of his family. His work hybridizes and creates parallels between land, the human, and the animal as a way to investigate the process in which violence eradicates, erases, and erodes communities of color. Upcoming exhibitions include Flow States – LA TRIENAL 2024 at El Museo de Barrio (New York, NY) and a solo exhibition of new work at ICA San Diego (San Diego, CA). Recent exhibitions include an untitled group exhibition at Artists Space (New York, NY), Perhaps the Truth at Ballroom Marfa (Marfa, TX), La Casa Erosionada at Anahuacalli Museum (Coyacan, MX), James Webb and The Thestral Born Without a Vertebrate at Sargent’s Daughters (New York, NY), and were-:Nenetech Forms at MOCA Tucson (Tucson, AZ). Installation Images Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, Skinchangers: Begotten of my Flesh. Installation views at moCa Cleveland, 2024. Photos: Tom Little