LIP SYNC PARADE
Curated by FJORD member, Doah Lee
Opening Reception: Thursday, December 13th 6-9pm
On view: November 29th – January 12th
Closing Reception: January 12th
FJORD is pleased to announce upcoming group exhibition “Lip-Sync Parade,” featuring work by five Philadelphia-based artists Amy Cousins, Gabriel Martinez, Heather Raquel Phillips, Jesse Harrod, and Keenan Bennett. Curated by gallery member Doah Lee, the exhibition will be on view from November 29th to January 12th, and an opening reception will take place on December 13th from 6-9pm. This exhibition, Lip-Sync Parade, presents new works by the artists who are exploring complex notions of gender and sexuality through visual forms ranging across drawing, textile, sculpture, video and mixed media-based installation.
These artists wield visibility in their own ways, embracing marginalization to create empowering narratives and images that resist dominant social constructs. Their works urgently celebrate queer life and history through humorous, playful and peculiar characters; digestible tropes and tools expand the field of queer cultural production, challenging the definition of our body with its relation to power and privilege under binary-normative pressures.
Each artist uses their own social and cultural language to claim individual autonomy that reflects their sense of identity and community. The exhibition navigates our fluid relationships within private and public environs, allowing culture and art to shape our course. Their desire for visibility is imperative in order to restore the erased history of gender and sexual minority groups and to stand against continual censorship.
Lip-syncing is a symbolic device used in this exhibition to neutralize gender roles and sexuality, opening the stage for appropriation and challenging heteronormative expectations. The artworks confront the full spectrum of our diverse society and voices in the power of the screaming lip-sync parade.