The AARC is thrilled to present its Fall/Winter 2023 Exhibits: Spine Songs by Irene June Chau and Great Value! Heritage Objects and Da Kine by Jasmine Chock. These exhibits will be on-view from November 20th, 2023 - February 11th, 2024. Please join us for an artist reception on Saturday, December 2nd from 6-8pm. Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP at aarcatx.eventbrite.com.
Irene June’s Spine Songs is a site specific body that works to access ancestral spine. June’s practice encompasses their personal relationship with ancestral prayer, transgenderhood, and Taiwanese heritage. Using visual similarities between geologic bodies and human bodies, June places the spine as an axis between heaven and earth. Ancestral spine, a site for assertion and unwavering self worship, is the nerve, audacity, and bravery to exist fully. Spine Songs builds a space that allows for the enormity of self in its multiplicities. Transness is the body remembering itself. Through the lens of the spine, Irene June invites audiences to engage in a personal narrative of diasporic reconciliation and healing, and to access the depths and inherent godliness of transgender identity.
In Great Value! Heritage Objects and Da Kine, Jasmine Chock transforms everyday consumer items to create new sculptural objects that represent her personal cultural heritage spanning three centuries in China, Hawai’i, and Texas. While she is physically far from the places her family is from, she connects with the traditions of her ancestors in her practice through recognizing traditions, like lei making, routines, such as saving plastic bags, and buying canned delicacies at the store like spam. Chock uses clay, found objects, textiles, video and other digital media to create humorous and unexpected connections in this body of work, exploring her cultural identity and sharing its traditions.