Tag Archive: poetry

  1. From Us

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    FEATURING: Abraham Lule, Alexis Politz, Anne Ulku, Briana Layne, Booka B, Christopher Alday, Dan Souligny, Dana Christopherson, Destiny Davison, Evan Weselmann, Fiona Avocado, Gina McMillen, Jamie Owens, Jared Maire, Lindsey Made This, María José Castillo, Maximilian Mauracher, Meghan McDilda, Melissa Sisk, Miles Taylor, Milton Un, Molly McDougall, Nicholas Straight, Paige Guggemos, Sara Paul Kahn, Schuyler Huber, Shivani Parasnis, Studio on Fire, Ted Kusio & Thy Doan.

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    We began with thirty untitled and unauthored poems by Molly-Margaret Johnson & Kareem Rahma. By eliminating titles and byline for each poem, the audience is given an opportunity to connect more viscerally with the work by having to read between the lines without preconceptions of race, gender or sexual orientation. The outcome is an ouroboros of words written by two uniquely different individuals coming together.

    Johnson & Rahma’s poetry was then shared with local and national typographers, illustrators and designers who were challenged to conceive a personal rendition of the selected poem of their choice. Through screen print, letterpress, hand lettering, and various illustrative elements, they will produce posters that push the viewer’s interpretation, adding yet a third layer of complexity to the written prose.

    The culmination of this process extends to those who will visit the gallery to experience From Us. Featuring bold, fluid, high contrast, and vibrant visual representations, the gallery walls will be filled with content that will connect with viewers. We anticipate engaging, perception-bending conversations filled with an appreciation and respect for differences as the outcome.

    ABOUT THE POETS
    Molly-Margaret & Kareem are from Saint Paul, MN living in Brooklyn New York. They are gay, straight, Egyptian, American, male, female, depressed, hilarious and love Hamm’s on tap.

    Molly-Margaret Johnson is a gay, sagittarius, sex-positive internet freak and writer. She is based in Brooklyn, NY and runs the instagram account @whatswrongwithmollymargaret which covers dating, sex, confidence, queerness, self love and romance.

    Kareem Rahma is an Egyptian-American poet, media entrepreneur, and writer/actor/producer living and working in New York City. He runs the instagram account @kareem and his debut poetry collection We Were Promised Flying Cars was released by Pioneer Works in 2019.[/bscolumns]

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    OPENING NIGHT: Thursday March 5th, 2020
    7pm – 10pm // $5, Free for Members
    Music selections by Ramses Alacron & Ruby Hind
    A collaborative exhibition of multidimensional artistic processes between poets,Molly-Margaret Johnson and Kareem Rahma, alongside 30 local and national designers.

    ARTIST TALK: Saturday March 7th, 2020
    11am – 1pm // $10 pre-sale. $15 door • Free for Members
    We recommend purchasing in advance. Sweet treats, sparkly beverages, and coffee from Segue will be provided.
    Join moderator Jade Patrick alongside poets Molly-Margaret Johnson & Kareem Rahma in a discussion of engaging, perception-bending conversations filled with an appreciation and respect for differences. 

    LEVEL UP: POSTPONED
    6:30pm – 8:30pm • $40/artist for a 90 minute group session, 30 seats available. Join Amira, of AMF Artist Business Management Services, for an interactive presentation covering strategies to enhance audience engagement.  This event is mostly intended for artists who are looking to increase current sales, though artists at any stage will learn techniques and concepts that will help them sell their art.

    COLAB ART NIGHT – Art 4 Shelter // CANCELLED
    7pm-10pm // $5 • Free for Members
    This spring we were going to be creating works to be sold at the Annual Simpson Housing Fundraiser: Art 4 Shelter.
    Find original artworks on paper by emerging and established artists -and- a benefit for Simpson Housing Services. Each 5×7″ piece will sell for $35, the cost of housing someone for one night at the overnight shelter :  www.simpsonhousing.org/shop –

    BEHIND THE POSTER FINALE: Wednesday, May 27th, 2020
    7pm // Click link: www.mplsart.com
    Hosted with mplsart & Gamut Director Cassie Garner
    FEATURING DESIGNERS: Alexis Politz, Anne Ulku, Evan Weselmann, Destiny Davison, Gina McMillen, Fiona Avocado, Ted Kusio, Nicholas Straight, Maximilian Mauracher, Melissa Sisk, and Sara Paul Kahn [/bscolumns][bscolumns class=”clear”][/bscolumns]

  2. From Us : Art Talk

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    We began with thirty untitled and unauthored poems by Molly-Margaret Johnson & Kareem Rahma. By eliminating titles and byline for each poem, the audience is given an opportunity to connect more viscerally with the work by having to read between the lines without preconceptions of race, gender or sexual orientation. The outcome is an ouroboros of words written by two uniquely different individuals coming together.

    ABOUT THE POETS
    Kareem Rahma is an Egyptian-American poet, media entrepreneur, and writer/actor/producer living and working in New York City. He runs the instagram account @kareem and his debut poetry collection We Were Promised Flying Cars was released by Pioneer Works in 2019. He is the founder of Nameless Network and The Museum of Pizza. Before becoming a full-time artist and entrepreneur, he was a Growth Editor at The New York Times and the Associate Director of Global Marketing at VICE. Kareem is an alum of NEW INC., “the world’s first museum led incubator program” created by The New Museum. He is a recipient of the 2019 Above The Fold Awards from The University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and in 2018 was named one of the most impactful Egyptians in the world from CairoScene.

    Molly-Margaret Johnson is a gay, sagittarius, sex-positive internet freak and writer. She is based in Brooklyn, NY and runs the instagram account @whatswrongwithmollymargaret which covers dating, sex, confidence, queerness, self love and romance. Graduate of Rutger’s BFA conservatory and Rutger’s conservatory at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Molly-Margaret is very passionate about experimental theater and performance art. She is keen on mixed media and interdisciplinary collaboration in her works.

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    Saturday March 7th, 2020
    ARTIST TALK – 11am – 1pm
    $10 pre-sale. $15 door • $5 for Members

    Purchase your ticket today!
    First  30 tickets have seating, additional tickets standing room.
    Sweet treats, sparkly beverages, and coffee from Segue will be provided.

    Join moderator Jade Patrick alongside From Us: Together Forever Sometimes poets Molly-Margaret Johnson & Kareem Rahma in a discussion of engaging, perception-bending conversations filled with an appreciation and respect for differences.

     

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  3. Soft Boundaries

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    Featured Artists: Blair Moore, Dom Laba, Lamia Abukhadra, Laurie Borggreve, Mikki Coleman, Nadia Honary, shhhhame, Zeam Porter

    In identity and expression, toughness and tenderness aren’t typically synonymous. To be soft and vulnerable is a sign of weakness, to be open is seen as an invitation to be manipulated. We place boundaries as a way to give us a sense of structure and security – emotionally, mentally, physically – but what happens when these boundaries get muddled? How does one embrace emotionality through identity? If vulnerability is the birthplace of joy, creativity, belonging and love, why is it so difficult for us to be tender and find calmness in the unknown?

    For Soft Boundaries, eight artists explore how the vulnerable narrative can be used as an act of resistance, liberation and healing. Through the mediums of illustration, photography, video and audio installation, mixed media, book art, and sculpture, the artists present the distortions which keep us from wholly seeing ourselves and others, and the limitations when identity is categorized into the binaries of hyper-visible and invisible. Examining intersecting identities through art, Soft Boundaries sets out to showcase the power of radical softness as a weapon and the strength and truth in allowing ourselves to be fully open.

    Juleana Enright is a femme, queer, indigenous writer and curator. They have over ten years of experience writing about art and culture in the Twin Cities writing for local publications mplsart.com, NEMAA, l’étoile magazine and City Pages. In their curatorial projects, they strive to provide visual and artistic content which highlights and represents femme, non-binary and queer POC artists in the community. Juleana is the co-curator of FEELS, a monthly, multi-sensory queer dance night at the intersection of art and feelings. Soft Boundaries marks their first solo curatorial exhibition.
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    EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION
    Saturday, April 28th, 7-11pm
    $5 or Free with Gallery Membership
    Featuring a curated playlist exploring softness by Bleak Roses

    PERFORMANCE NIGHT
    Thursday, May 3rd, 7-9pm
    $10 or Free with Membership
    An evening of responsive performances from Marcel-Michelle Obama, Katie Robinson and Sonja Elise Johanson & Cole Mealey of A M O D E L

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    About the Artists:

    Through intimate pamphlet books and prints, Palestinian American artist Lamia Abudkhadra aims to dismantle the harmful dominant narratives that cultivate and celebrate acts of colonialism, occupation, and genocide in Palestine and the Arab world. Emotional and political, her interdisciplinary practice explores deep into her cultural history and sheds light on territory and visibility and the damaging, generation-lasting effects when these are violated.

    Working with sculpture and mixed media, artist Laurie Borggreve challenges the societal definitions of “feminine,” presenting traditional imagery and visual cues associated with the feminine norm juxtaposed with foreboding materials of harsh tactility. Through tiny details and subtle messages, her work speaks to the contradicting nature of life and emotion.

    As a half-Iranian media producer and artist, Nadia Honary explores authentic storytelling and the intensity of diversity within identity through performance, movement and video. Debuting new work for Soft Boundaries, she pairs personal Polaroid photos with experimental video work to create a provocative and emotionally-arresting visual for the many grey areas between hard and soft.

    Existing within the non-linear, digital photographer Dom Laba focuses on documenting queer culture through intimate moments, highlighting the beautiful within social settings. From performance events and dance nights to the more personal – stark parking lots, tender living rooms – Dom’s portrait work captures the curatorial in the casual. Each image in their photography series embodies a separate, yet methodical and cohesive aesthetic. A candid essence of the queer experience, Dom’s work celebrates the endless possible editorial moments of any space and time.

    Similarly using photography to capture an existence, Blair Moore’s works consist of dreamy portraits and nostalgic themes. Inspired by vintage glamour and heartbreak, she strives to relate and inspire others through her art. Through photography series like her “Wild Child” project, Blair highlights themes of depression and the unlived experiences of black young adults.

    Exploring gender, dysphoria, and bodily autonomy, trans, non-binary artist Mikki Coleman works within the medium of collage to express their relationship to their body and the bodies of others through visually contained chaos instead of words. The process of cutting, arranging, and fixating the pieces is a physical representation of the presence and influence of their own body within their art. Each methodically placed piece exists as both a fracture and a semblance and is a reminder of one’s power to create beauty, and sometimes ugliness, with the touch of one’s hands.

    Through vivid use of color, shhhhame’s acrylic paintings draw the viewer into a story of perception, through the paintings which examine betrayal, anxiety, detachment and the progression of healing trauma through art. Choosing subjects she feels a connection with on an intimate, emotional level, her work highlights human interaction and the ways in which relationships – even ones in which we experience abuse and toxicity – shape art and life. Each subject and self-portrait reveals an experience of truth and vulnerability.

  4. Black Weirdo: The Party

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    MINNEAPOLIS–Friday, May 23, 2014, doors at 7:30 p.m., party 8 p.m. – 1 a.m., THEESatisfaction, brilyahnt peace & Purple Hocus Pocus present Black Weirdo: The Party, a national touring celebration of Black Queers and People of Color allies at Gamut Gallery. The shared goal is to create an energizing, unifying and healing home space for Black queers and People of Color from all backgrounds, identities and experiences while being exposed to new ideas, faces and lifestyles. Guests will groove to energetic, intimate performances & DJ sets by Sarah White, Sweetz P, Mamadu (don’t call him Toki Wright), DJ Just Nine, Sassyblack, and Stas Thee Boss. The evening will be hosted by THEESatisfaction, who will also DJ and perform.

    brilyahnt peace and Purple Hocus Pocus are defining what Black Weirdo means to the Twin Cities. Of this event they say: “We’re dedicated to building a party space where we can just be who we’ve always wanted to be. This night, with Black Weirdo, we’re going to resist by dancing and celebrating our lives. This night, we demand to be seen, heard and loved.” Black Weirdo: The Party is both a party and a community. This inclusive evening will offer an atmosphere where Blackness can be wild, unrestricted and unafraid—be healed, be happy, be laid-back, be conscious, be hood—all at once.

    Refreshments will be served, donations requested. Tickets for this 18+ party are $12 and are available in advance at www.eventbrite.com/o/black-weirdo-4302793181—or at the door on the day of the event for $15. UMN students can receive discounted tickets for $8 each by contacting VMerging@gmail.com. The Minneapolis edition of Black Weirdo: The Party is sponsored by Voices Merging and Women’s Student Activist Collective (WSAC).

    Black Weirdo is a national touring party hosted and curated by THEESatisfaction. The party is primarily for Black queers and People of Color allies. Black Weirdo aims to celebrate all forms of Blackness and create a Black-positive, queer-positive space. facebook.com/BlackWeirdo

    THEESatisfaction are Stasia Irons and Catherine-Harris White. Stas was born and raised in Tocoma, WA; Cat in Seattle, WA and Hawaii. They write, produce and perform their own material,funk psychedelic feminist sic-fi epics with the warmth and depth of Black Jazz and Sunday morning soul, frosted with icy raps that evoke equal parts Elaine Brown, Ursula Rucker and Q-Tip. theesatisfaction.com

    brilyahnt peace wants you to think differently. s/he throws events to uplift and expand understanding and spirit. brilyahnt peace is here for Black Women. brilyahntpeace.tumblr.com

    Purple Hocus Pocus is a soulful community organizing a new nightlife space where the young, Brown and sexy people in Twin Cities will be able to connect and vibe to the music. The series will launch in late Fall of 2014.

     SPONSORS: Voices Merging (VM) is a multicultural student-based art coalition at the University of Minnesota, dedicated to all mediums of art and art lovers alike. Best known for their biweekly open mics, VM is moving into the realm of party producer.

     Women’s Student Activist Collective (WSAC) is a student organization at the University of Minnesota. WSAC aims to empower women, transgender, and gender non-conforming people to make positive changes in society by eliminating interrelated inequalities that produce oppression, with a focus on gender and sexuality.

    FEATURED PERFORMERS: THEESatisfaction, Sarah White, Sweetz P, Mamadu (don’t call him Toki Wright), DJ Just Nine, Sassyblack, and Stas Thee Boss