2012 (Spring) Self Conscious

dates: 17 - Ju n o i t i May exhib

12

, 20 ly 13

C f l e S

s u o i c s on Nuala Cabral Takeya Trayer Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Yadira Leticia Torres

About Leewa y The Leeway Foundation supports women and trans artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice.

Our grant programs, the Art and Change Grant and the Leeway Transformation Award, are open to women and transgender artists living in the Philadelphia region working in any medium of art, including traditional and non-traditional as well as multimedia and experimental forms. Creating change must be integral to the ideas, beliefs, and goals that are woven throughout the work and the process of creating and sharing the work.

For more information please visit www.leeway.org, call 215. 545. 4078 or email info@leeway.org. cover image: Duality by Yadira Leticia Torres.

Opening Reception: Tuesday May 22, 5:30pm-7:30pm Artist Talks: • Tuesday June 5, 6pm-7:30pm - Nuala Cabral • Tuesday June 19, 6pm-7:30pm - Takeya Trayer, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh & Yadira Leticia Torres Gallery Hours (by appointment): Mondays through Fridays 10:00am to 5:00pm The Leeway Foundation is located at 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 832.

About the Exhibit “You who understand the dehumanization of forced removal-relocation-reduction-redefinition, the humiliation of having to falsify your own reality, your voice—you know. And often you cannot say it. You try and keep on trying to unsay it, for if you don’t, they will not fail to fill in the blanks on your behalf, and you will be said.”

–Trinh T. Minh-ha, Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism Far too often we throw around terms such as ‘underprivileged’, ‘marginalized’, and ‘atrisk’, as if these terms have nothing to do with us—as if they are not representative of ourselves. Communities that these labels describe are being spoken for when really they must tell their own stories.

In artist/scholar Trinh T. Minh-ha’s seminal 1989 book, Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism, she discusses the place of women artists, specifically those of color, who by creating space for themselves in deference or resistance to an oppressing group, often find themselves negotiating a desire to navigate and somehow honor what they rejected at the same time they investigate new ways of traversing the parameters of a given space.

To be self-conscious is to have awareness of one’s own existence. For folks on the margins, because of race, class, gender expression, or sexuality, this awareness is often coupled with an unpleasant feeling of being watched, observed or co-opted by the dominant culture.

About the Exhibit The artists selected for this show are exploring and pushing up against the parameters of identity, specifically at the intersection of race, class, gender expression, access, and nationality. What we see in their deeply personal work is that many of the pieces explore self-portraiture as a form which allows these artists use to go deeper than the mainstream and commercial images of young women we see every day. To quote Second Wave Feminists–the personal is political–it’s about the choices we make, or feel allowed to make, and how we’re defined by others unless we stake claim and define ourselves. That act of self-determination is reflected in the works these artists have shared with us. As Trinh reminds us, “This is the world in which I move uninvited, profane on a sacred land, neither me nor mine, but me nonetheless.”

Nuala’s video Walking Home is intended to shed light on her personal experience with street harassment and disrupt our collective acceptance. She created the experimental film for the walkers, the talkers, and the silent everyday witnesses. Tatyana paints portraits in an attempt to capture complex political and social ideas. She uses the bodies of individuals to comment on broader issues that affect us all such as LGBT rights and discrimination against black men. Takeya identifies as female, gay, non-white and masculine of center. Being visibly “out” she often experiences discrimination. She creates work to release burdens and to celebrate what makes her different. Yadira merges selfportraiture with varying forms of the abstract female figure reflecting upon her familial heritage and Puerto Rican ancestry. In her mixed-media paintings, she attempts to embody the coexisting dualities of darkness and hope.

Several of these works are untitled, which means that the viewer is forced to assign their own meaning. We cannot glean meaning from the titles alone but instead must sit with the work, noticing each and every brushstroke (or keystroke) and determine the implication for our desire to see ourselves and our sense of place reflected back to us in the work. opposite page (l-r): Walking Home by Nuala Cabral, Judith by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, and Untitled by Takeya Trayer

The Ar tists

Nuala Cabral (ACG ’11) Rhode Island native Nuala Cabral is an educator, activist and award-winning filmmaker. She is a founding member of the Black Feminist Working Group and an active organizer in the movement to end street harassment.

While earning her Masters from Temple University’s Department of Broadcast, Telecommunications and Mass Media in 2010, she co-founded FAAN (Fostering Activism and Alternatives Now!) Mail, a media literacy and media activism project based in Philadelphia. Through a Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grant, Nuala launched Sisters Action Media, a ten-week after-school program for teen girls in Philadelphia.

“Community and liberation are central to my work as an artist, educator and activist. Through these roles I seek to build understanding across boundaries and inspire social change.”

The Ar tists

Takeya Trayer (ACG ‘10) Takeya was born in the small central Pennsylvania town of Steelton located ten miles from Three Mile Island.

She received an undergraduate degree in fine art at Saint Joseph’s University, an associate’s degree in animation from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, and master’s degree in 3D character animation at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Takeya had her first show in 2008 and that same year exhibited at the 1st annual Butch Voices Conference in Oakland. She moved back to Philadelphia in 2009 and gave birth to her son in 2010. She has had her work featured in Brown Boi Project’s trans health guide and exhibited as part of the Gender Reel Fest in Philadelphia. Takeya is currently at work on an animated dramatic series featuring an action heroine of color who becomes pregnant.

“My art helps me defy limitations set by words. Even though I am heavily influenced by language it can only communicate so much. Being female, gay, non-white, and of masculine center I am visibly out. Art is a release of those burdens as well as a celebration of my differences. Art is my healer. I am always hopeful that my art speaks to different walks of life in and beyond my community.”

The Ar tists

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Tatyana is a Philadelphia-based contemporary painter.

Born and raised in Oklahoma City, she moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of the Arts, and graduated with a BFA in 2007. Tatyana creates oil paintings on canvas, working with figures and portraits to create works that capture socio-political ideas. Her art has been exhibited in galleries across the country, published in numerous magazines, and was featured in the book Art For Obama: Designing Manifest Hope and the Campaign for Change (Abrams) edited by Shepard Fairey. She has completed illustration commissions for several musicians, films, and books. In 2010, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) named Tatyana an official Creative Ambassador. Tatyana along with the Amber Design Collective has been commissioned to produce The Mural Arts Program’s “Roots Mural Project” slated for the corner of 6th and South Streets.

“My work consists of portraits and figures painted in oil on canvas. I am interested in individuals and how social structures affect their lives. I attempt to comment on social behaviors— from protest to discrimination. The ultimate goal of my work is to relate viewers of my work to the subjects in my paintings through an understanding of human emotion.”

The Ar tists

Yadira Leticia Torres Yadira Leticia Torres was born and raised in Reading, PA. She earned a bachelor’s of fine arts degree from Moore College of Art & Design. She has studied abroad in Venezuela, Mexico, and Italy. During her travels she became heavily influenced by culturally-specific art and works expressing the universal condition of women. For the past decade, Yadira has exhibited both nationally and internationally at various locations including the Hispanic Center of Arts in Reading, PA, the Academy of Music in Mérida, Venezuela, and the 61st Annual Keisho Exhibition in Naoya, Japan. In 2010, she was a featured artist at Gallery 307 in Philadelphia and also produced the album cover art for internationally-renowned poet Ursula Rucker’s fifth studio album, She Said (Noizetrip).

“In my work, I merge self-portraiture with varying forms of the abstract female figure in a mixed-media format. Reflecting my personal journey through both my familial heritage and ethnic Puerto Rican culture, my work uniquely embodies the universal themes of struggle, inner-turmoil, and the coexisting dualities of darkness and hope; simultaneously provoking and touching audiences with the comforting sense that they are not alone.”

Price List Nuala Cabral Walking Home, HD video, DVD, Not for sale Takeya Trayer Bonded, acrylic on canvas, 24” x 36”, $1,050 Gender Bender, marker on Bristol, 11” x 14”, $60 Immigrant, marker on Bristol, 11” x 14”, $60 Look At My Face, acrylic on canvas, 29” x 44”, $450 Metro Sexual, marker on Bristol, 11” x 14”, $60 Mixed, marker on Bristol, 11” x 14”, $60 Stand Up For Everyone, acrylic on canvas, 33” x 45”, $1,100 Untitled - Birth, acrylic on canvas, 24” x 36”, Not For Sale Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 36”, $875.00 Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Silent Choices, oil on canvas, 14” x 18”, $600 Black Hair and Flowers (Tasha), oil on canvas, 24” x 30”, $1,200 Misogyny, oil on canvas, 20” x 24”, $750 Judith, oil on canvas, 18” x 24”, $1,200 Colored Girls, oil on canvas, 16” x 20”, $750 I Am Human, oil on canvas, 24” x 24”, $1,200 Standing From What Was, oil on canvas vas, 24” x 30”, $1,500 Omo Valley Self Portrait, oil on canvas, 24” x 30”, $2,000

Price List Yadira Leticia Torres Hope, oil on canvas and lace, 64” x 50”, $3,000 Untitled, mixed media, 20” x 26”, $1,500 Uncertain, oil on paper with photo transfer, 30” x 25”, $800 Self-Portrait, mixed media, Not For Sale Desire, oil on board with photo transfer, 8” x 10”, $700, Hope #2, oil on board with photo transfer, 8” x 10”, $700 Yellow, mixed media on canvas, 8” x 6”, $600 Silence, mixed media, 54” x 54”, $2,500 Leticia, oil on canvas, 18” x 19”, $900 Duality, oil on canvas, 32” x 42”, $1,000

executive director

Denise M. Brown

associate director

Maori Karmael Holmes program director

Sham-e-Ali Nayeem program assistant

Hope Steinman-Iacullo communications assistant

Irit Reinheimer intern

Simone J. Banks

+ installation Sean Stoops

exhibit design

Profits from works sold in this exhibit go directly to the artists.

www.leeway.org