Exhibition will take place at The Chocolate Factory Theater, 38-33 24th Street, LIC. Proof of vaccination required for admission.

Put your hands where my eyes can see is a group exhibition about imaging.

Participating Artists: Tyler Davis | Jen Everett | Kearra Amaya Gopee | Terrance James Jr. | Komikka Patton | Sasha Phyars-Burgess | Brianna Robinson | Ricky Weaver

Curated by Cameron A. Granger in collaboration with Makeba Rainey & Haiba Hamilton as part of the Rhizome Project.

About the Exhibition
Let’s think about the shared history of Black Folks in the same way poet Hanif Abdurraqib describes the Soul Train Line: A narrow, writhing, seemingly endless tunnel of Black Folks smiling and clapping. Where, in the center, partners are brought together – sometimes by intention, many times by fate. And together, using what knowledge they have of themselves and their bodies, they must make their way out – to the other side – urged on by the blooming claps around them.

These shared stories become less visible as we move through the present and into the future. Our histories are often confined to the margins (a tunnel of its own) and redacted to a distorted past tense. In their place, a violent vernacular has been built, creating an imaging that finds Black Folks – to quote sociologist and scholar Ruha Benjamin: “trapped between regimes of invisibility and hypervisibility”.

The work on view considers both the capacity that images have to influence our collective memory & imagination, and how, through maintaining control of images in the mainstream, the powerful have effectively privatized that imagination; distorting entire histories, presents, and suppressing our possible futures in the process. The work included moves to, like Ms. Toni Morrison said, “carve away at the accretions of deceit, ignorance, and sheer malevolence” embedded in the images & language of the powerful, of The Empire, so that new ways of imaging, and thus new futures are “not only available, but inevitable”.

The exhibition will be archived in a zine created by Danielle and Kevin McCoy of Work/Play, to be released at the exhibition’s closing reception on October 22nd.

About the Curators
Originally from Harlem and currently residing in Philly, Makeba “KEEBS” Rainey is a visual artist, curator, and organizer best known for her original style of digital collage portraiture. Haiba Hamilton is a Flux Factory board member, and the facilitator of the Rhizome Project. Cameron A. Granger came up in Cleveland, Ohio alongside his mother, Sandra, inheriting both her love of soul music, and habit of apologizing too much. A video artist, he uses his work as both a site for memory making, and as means to strategize new ways of remembrance in this age of mass media. The Flux Factory Rhizome Project is a commitment to give intentional space to Black voices, and provide a platform for Black narratives by offering the support needed to help these narratives thrive and evolve.

Full Schedule
October 8th, 7-10pm: Opening Reception
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October 9, 4-5pm: Curator talk with Dario Mohr and Cameron Granger
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October 16 2-3:30pm (online): Black Femme Brunch presents The Dream Salon: Destroy this World with Desire: A Black Femme World-Wielding Salon
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October 22nd, 4-7pm: Closing reception and zine release
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Gallery hours: by appointment only except as indicated
Friday October 15 4-7pm
Saturday October 16 2-6pm
Friday October 22 4-7pm
Saturday October 23 2-6pm
Email haibahamilton@gmail.com to make an appointment

Image: Ricky Weaver, Amazing Grace (Archival Pigment Print, Acrylic)