at LA State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St., LA CA 90012, next to Chinatown Metro Stop
#lafreewaves #dismiss #aintiawomxn
On Saturday, July 28. 2018, Freewaves will present Ain’t I A Womxn?, a genders promenade, an event that brings together audiences, artists and activist organizations to stretch gender expressions in new directions. Featuring 20 independent artists and 10 art collectives, the outdoor participatory event will unfold in Los Angeles State Historic Park next to Chinatown to explore intersectional identities under a full moon. From an audio tunnel to voguing to group scream to the launch of the Zanja Madre Fan Club, participants will present performance art, spoken word, sonic art, media projections and zines. Aint I A Womxn? is the next phase of Dis..Miss, a public art series that investigates current artists’ and audiences’ views on gender. It is an evening of seeing, hearing, finding connections, and mingling. The event’s title refers to freed slave, Sojourner Truth’s Ain’t I A Woman speech to an 1851 feminist convocation comparing the respect afforded White women with the disrespect afforded Black women, as well as the disregard afforded Black women versus Black men. Intersectionality advanced that day but the struggle continues.
Participating artists: Bitchface, Nao Bustamante and Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Martha Carrillo, Zackary Drucker, Reanne Estrada & C. Ree, Rafa Esparza, Funmilola Fagbamila, Rudy Bleu Garcia, Janice Gomez & Fatima Hoang, Raquel Gutiérrez, Elana Mann, Jennifer Moon, Amitis Motevalli, Thinh Nguyen, Patty Schemel and Object as Subject, #SNATCHPOWER, Christy Roberts Berkowitz, Yozmit Walker, Kristina Wong, Kiki Xtravaganza and Exposure Drag, Xina Xurner (Marvin Astorga & Young Joon Kwak), and Austin Young.
Participating art groups include: ArtworxLA, Dirty Looks F.L.O.W. (Feminist Library on Wheels), KCHUNG, Las Fotos Project, Ni Santas, Self Help Graphics and Women’s Creative Center for Work.
Activist organizations, a night group bike ride, group discussions, food trucks, social media feeds, free zines and art postcards will connect to communities via Black Lives Matter, East LA Women’s Center, Gender Justice, LA LGBT Center, Peace over Violence, People forMobility Justice fka MCM, and others.
Feminist PSAs by video artists: Adebukola Bodunrin, Mail Order Brides, Gloria Morán, Meena Nanji, and Caress Reeves and art videos by Johanna Breiding, Deanna Erdman and Andre Keichian.
Postcards by visual artists: April Bey, boychild, Cassils, Chan and Mann, Roya Falahi, Alexandra Grant, Micol Hebron, Thinh Nguyen, and Shizu Saldamando
Producers and Directors: LA Freewaves 6522 Hollywood Blvd LA 90028 Anne Bray, Sara Daleiden, Nateene Diu, Ginger Holguin, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Gina Valona, with designer Soyun Cho
Curatorial Advisors
Toro Castaño, Evonne Gallardo, Raquel Gutiérrez, Daisy Noemi.
Partners Go Metro, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), L.A. State Historic Park, and Women’s Creative Center for Work
Funders: Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Metabolic Studio and Pasadena Art Alliance
Dis…Miss is comprised of a series of audience engaging exchanges about gender, using videos, performance art, and postcards. Each Dis…Miss postcard has an image and a related question that viewers answer anonymously. The answers are gathered and analyzed to be displayed as an interactive online tool. Screenings, workshops, exhibitions and discussions have occurred and will continue throughout the greater Los Angeles area and beyond — available at Freewaves.org. Ain’t I A Womxn? evolves from Dis…Miss and will be documented in its online publication later this year.
Founded in 1989, Freewaves is an art organization that creates public events to bring diverse audiences and independent artists together in dialogue on current issues.
Images L to R: Rafa Esparza, Snatch Power, Freewaves’ Dis…Miss, Kristina Wong
