“
MATRIX joyfully centers the collective learning, healing and dreaming of those who deviate from hegemonic norms. With the intent to cultivate intersectional solidarity and foster a culture of care across our communities, this exhibition is framed by the work of our ancestors and motivated by a future of embodied liberation for all.
The artists featured in MATRIX are diverse in their approaches, each possessing highly nuanced and multivalent practices that draw from a wellspring of deep personal wisdom. What they have in common is the desire to connect–to themselves, to others, and to the world at large–while lovingly creating entirely new languages with which to speak through a poetry of material, space, and action.
In gathering within the framework of MATRIX , we aim to grow towards one another in meaaningful ways while honoring the complex lineages that flow through us. We hope to strengthen, expand, and celebrate the webs of care within the SF Bay Area’s creative communities by providing an integral space to practice more aligned ways of being in and engaging with the world and one another, and to indulge in the potency of a dream.”
-Tracy Ren, MATRIX Curator
Installation image of MATRIX :
[left]
Work by Yaxkin Fuentes-Barrientos
[right]
Work by Zach Ozma
Exhibition Dates
July 8 - August 13, 2022
Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo
mirrored fatality Black Feast Yaxkin Fuentes-Barrientos
Leena Joshi Maybe Later :) Cat Lauigan Kennedy Morgan Judit Navratil Zach Ozma
J Rivera Pansa
Seraphina Perkins Maryam Safansab Jasmine Zhang
Exhibiting Artists
MATRIX : WEATHER TOGETHER
MATRIX joyfully centers the collective learning, healing and dreaming of those who deviate from hegemonic norms. Framed by the experiences of our ancestors and motivated by a future of embodied liberation for all, this exhibition follows its namesake in functioning as a site of possibility–one in which we can cultivate intersectional solidarity and foster a culture of attentiveness and care–both within and across our communities.
It is important to note that the exhibition is not meant to serve as a replacement for the very necessary and ongoing work of decolonization. Rather, it is meant to exist as a tiny, and imperfect exercise in creating safer, more respectful, and more nourishing working conditions for artists and their communities, specifically those who have been pushed to the margins by unjust systems and the institutions that uphold them. Adrienne Marie Brown states in Emergent Strategy that “to really transform our society, we will need to make justice one of the most pleasurable experiences we can have” (Brown 33). My ultimate hope is that when all is said and done, this exhibition feels pleasurable for all involved, and then that pleasure might function as fuel for the path forward.
The artists featured in MATRIX are diverse in their approaches, each possessing highly nuanced and multivalent life practices that draw from a wellspring of deep personal wisdom. What they have in common is the desire to (re)connect - to themselves, to others, and to the world at large - on their own terms. In the making of each artwork, the artists have moved beyond the limitations of language alone, producing a kind of poetry in material, space, and action.
The way in which each artist has chosen to engage with the theme of the show ranges widely. Artists S e raph i na P e rkins and C a t La u ig a n tap into the aesthetic and process-based traditions of craft mediums as a means to forge connections to spirit and ancestral wisdom / memory, while J u dit N a vrat i l and mirr o red f a tal i ty have taken to digital and virtual worlds in an effort to explore the richness of utopic potential embedded within those spaces. M a ybe L a ter :) has taken yet another approach; the piece they’ve presented in MATRIX is an amalgamation of gifts, mementos, photographs, and other ephemera from their long history here in the Bay Area–a physical display of the multitudes of fleeting, surprisingly beautiful, and beautifully surprising connections made between friends and strangers both, each and every day.
As a whole, the artwork in the show functions both individually and collectively a site of possibility–calling on viewers to become active participants in the creation of meaning, understanding, and affect. While the artists have laid the groundwork for this exchange, there exists a certain subtlety and nuance in aesthetic choices present in the work, which communicates a refusal to be flattened. This flattening happens all too often when considering the work of artists of difference; as such, we request your generosity of attention while we collectively call into question the politics of legibility and learn to hold both bodies and being as some things cosmic.
We gather within the framework of MATRIX to grow towards one another in meaningful ways–to celebrate the complex lineages that flow through and around us, and to indulge in the potency of a dream. Thank you to all who participated in the making of this exhibition; the artists, the team at Root Division, and to you, the viewer, without whom the show would not be able to exist as a dynamic flow of both creation and connection.
ESSAY
BY
CURATOR
TR A CY R E N
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brown, Adrienne Marie. “Emergent Strategy”. AK press, 2017
Hall, Gordon. “Why I Don’t Talk About ‘The Body’: A Polemic” in Monday Journal, Vol. 4. Jacob Lawrence Gallery, University of Washington, 2020
Herbert, Martin. “Tell Them I Said No”. MIT Press, 2016
Hill, EJ. “Wherever We Will To Root”. 17 Feb.-22 Apr. 2022, Oxy Arts, Los Angeles.
Russell, Legacy. Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. Verso Books, 2020
Sosa, Fannie. “A White Institution’s Guide to Welcoming Artists of Color and Their Audiences”. Galerie Galerie. https://www. galeriegalerieweb.com/en/webtheque-2/thewig-2/
Vuong, Ocean. “On being generous in your work”. The Creative Independent, 15 Mar. 2022, https://thecreativeindependent.com/ people/2017-05-16-ocean-vuong-on-beinggenerous-in-your-work/
MATRIX : WEATHER TOGETHER
MATRIX joyfully centers the collective learning, healing and dreaming of those who deviate from hegemonic norms. Framed by the experiences of our ancestors and motivated by a future of embodied liberation for all, this exhibition follows its namesake in functioning as a site of possibility–one in which we can cultivate intersectional solidarity and foster a culture of attentiveness and care–both within and across our communities.
It is important to note that the exhibition is not meant to serve as a replacement for the very necessary and ongoing work of decolonization. Rather, it is meant to exist as a tiny, and imperfect exercise in creating safer, more respectful, and more nourishing working conditions for artists and their communities, specifically those who have been pushed to the margins by unjust systems and the institutions that uphold them. Adrienne Marie Brown states in Emergent Strategy that “to really transform our society, we will need to make justice one of the most pleasurable experiences we can have” (Brown 33). My ultimate hope is that when all is said and done, this exhibition feels pleasurable for all involved, and then that pleasure might function as fuel for the path forward.
The artists featured in MATRIX are diverse in their approaches, each possessing highly nuanced and multivalent life practices that draw from a wellspring of deep personal wisdom. What they have in common is the desire to (re)connect - to themselves, to others, and to the world at large - on their own terms. In the making of each artwork, the artists have moved beyond the limitations of language alone, producing a kind of poetry in material, space, and action.
The way in which each artist has chosen to engage with the theme of the show ranges widely. Artists S e raph i na P e rkins and C a t La u ig a n tap into the aesthetic and process-based traditions of craft mediums as a means to forge connections to spirit and ancestral wisdom / memory, while J u dit N a vrat i l and mirr o red f a tal i ty have taken to digital and virtual worlds in an effort to explore the richness of utopic potential embedded within those spaces. M a ybe L a ter :) has taken yet another approach; the piece they’ve presented in MATRIX is an amalgamation of gifts, mementos, photographs, and other ephemera from their long history here in the Bay Area–a physical display of the multitudes of fleeting, surprisingly beautiful, and beautifully surprising connections made between friends and strangers both, each and every day.
As a whole, the artwork in the show functions both individually and collectively a site of possibility–calling on viewers to become active participants in the creation of meaning, understanding, and affect. While the artists have laid the groundwork for this exchange, there exists a certain subtlety and nuance in aesthetic choices present in the work, which communicates a refusal to be flattened. This flattening happens all too often when considering the work of artists of difference; as such, we request your generosity of attention while we collectively call into question the politics of legibility and learn to hold both bodies and being as some things cosmic.
We gather within the framework of MATRIX to grow towards one another in meaningful ways–to celebrate the complex lineages that flow through and around us, and to indulge in the potency of a dream. Thank you to all who participated in the making of this exhibition; the artists, the team at Root Division, and to you, the viewer, without whom the show would not be able to exist as a dynamic flow of both creation and connection.
ESSAY
BY
CURATOR
TR A CY R E N
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brown, Adrienne Marie. “Emergent Strategy”. AK press, 2017
Hall, Gordon. “Why I Don’t Talk About ‘The Body’: A Polemic” in Monday Journal, Vol. 4. Jacob Lawrence Gallery, University of Washington, 2020
Herbert, Martin. “Tell Them I Said No”. MIT Press, 2016
Hill, EJ. “Wherever We Will To Root”. 17 Feb.-22 Apr. 2022, Oxy Arts, Los Angeles.
Russell, Legacy. Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. Verso Books, 2020
Sosa, Fannie. “A White Institution’s Guide to Welcoming Artists of Color and Their Audiences”. Galerie Galerie. https://www. galeriegalerieweb.com/en/webtheque-2/thewig-2/
Vuong, Ocean. “On being generous in your work”. The Creative Independent, 15 Mar. 2022, https://thecreativeindependent.com/ people/2017-05-16-ocean-vuong-on-beinggenerous-in-your-work/
[left]
“Community is made on the porch” 2021
Digital print, Mylar, Flashe, acrylic, and grommets 40 x 25.5 in.
[right]
“Who is collecting the stories of this neighborhood?” 2021
Digital print, Mylar, Flashe, acrylic, and grommets 40 x 25.5 in.
12
L u kaz a Branfm a n-Ver i
13
o
ssim
“VALE” 2022 Film 3:21 min.
14
m i rror e d fat a lit y
15
“Altar of Black Life” 2020 Plywood, acrylic paint, framed photographs of those loved dearly, flowers, fruit, candles 96 x 60 x 12 in.
16
17
Bl a ck Fe a st
18
“Midnight Circus” 2021 Oil and oil pastel on canvas 18 x 28 x 1.5 in
Y a xkin F u ent e s-Barr i ent o
19
s
20
“the rhododendrons are blooming they are known to me now as familiars like the small rough licks of cats on the block and the buzz of unavoidably gmo pollens
i am here completely on accident kinless with no real language to lay out in
when i stretch my hips in one tongue it is haunted sing song lewd and childish
i try another and am burned by absolute presence the news cycle and wifi radiation i understand the coloniality of each minute but please it cannot be constantly sensed
that is asking too much of a body praying to understand that it is not made of grievance” 2022
Ceramic, digital print in resin 16 x 9 x 1 in.
21 L e en a Josh i
“Installation #2”
2022 Paper, canvas, ink, enamel, acrylic, photographs 8.75 x 18.5 ft
22
M a ybe L a ter
23
:)
“Pakikipagkapwa (of terra, of aether)” 2022 Mud soaked garment made from recycled textiles 60 x 40 in.
25 C a t Lau i gan
“Neuza 6-10-46” 2017 Charcoal on paper 46 x 36 in.
K e nned y Morg a n
27
28
“Salt Spring Sault - ZOOM OUT” 2022
Single channel video 02:29
“Salt Spring Sault - ZOOM IN” 2022
Single channel video 02:56
“Uncomfy is Comfy” 2019
Single channel video 03:11
29
i l
J u dit N a vrat
30
[left]
“Eat here” 2021-2022
Acrylic, graphite, putty, sweat-stained cotton a-shirt, staples, spray-on wall texture, chalk pastel, unfired stoneware, India ink on canvas 14 x 11 x 0.75 in
[right]
“Comb (the mythos of masculinity)” 2022
Acrylic, vinyl, graphite, putty, unfired stoneware, rolling papers, comb (with stones) found in Darby Creek, found photo, glue on canvas 10 x 30 x 0.75 in.
31
Z a ch Ozm a
“GMP X 374” 2021 Aluminum eyelet, steel jump rings, photo prints 60 x 60 in.
33
J R i ver
Pans a
a
“Typewritten Poetry Quilt (w treasures)” 2022
Textile, poetry, folk art 37 x 37 in.
34
S e raph i na P e
35
rkins
“Unidentified Body II” 2022
Yarn, wool, plastic beads, film tape, ribbon, plastic robe and cloth 150 x 25 x 5 in.
36
M a ry a m Saf a
37
nsab
38
“a rainbow” 2022 Kites, archival pigment print Dimensions variable
J a smi n e
39
Zhang
ST A FF
TAMARA BERDICHEVSKY-OVSEIOVICH,Education Programs Manager
FRANCES FLEETWOOD,Art Programs Manager
MICHELLE MANSOUR,Executive Director
RONALDO REYES,Facilities & Installation Manager
BENNY SIAM,Youth Education Coordinator
PHI TRAN,Marketing & Design Manager
RACHEL WELLES,Operations Manager
BRIDGETTE WILKERSON,Marketing Coordinator
INSTALLATION VIEWS [from left to right]
Navratil
C A TAL O G PROD U CTI O N
PHI TRAN,Graphic Design
Judit
Seraphina
Cat
VIVIANA MARTINEZ CARLOS,Exhibition Documentation Maryam
Perkins
Laugian
Safanasab
PPORT E RS
Root Division is a visual arts non-profit in San Francisco that connects creativity and community through a dynamic ecosystem of arts education, exhibitions, and studios. Root Division’s mission is to empower artists, foster community service, inspire youth, and enrich the Bay Area through engagement in the visual arts. The organization is a launching pad for artists, a stepping-stone for educators and students, and a bridge for the general public to become involved in the arts. 415.863.7668 rootdivision.org
1131 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
Root Division is supported in part by a plethora of individual donors and by grants from National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Grants for the Arts, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, and Violet World Foundation.
AB O UT R O OT D I VIS I ON S U
