A PERPETUAL JOURNEY

 

Curated by Emily Wilkerson

 

March 14 - April 26, 2014

Opening reception March 14, 7 - 10pm

 

 

“A Perpetual Journey” brings together nine artists whose work investigates the infinite ways of defining one’s identity. Challenging truths, fictions, and expectations about how one characterizes oneself, the works in this exhibition consider how gender, sexual orientation, education, occupation, and cultural identity position the individual within society. Through interactive installations, painting, sound, and video the works included prompt a hypothetical cleansing of the past, and allude to metaphorical platforms for actively searching for one’s standing in the present. The exhibition takes its title from Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself.” In the sense of Whitman’s poem—and specifically his words, “I tramp a perpetual journey”—the exhibition aims to be a site of many departure points through which the visitor might consider and experience the longing, inspiration, and potential liberation that may be faced in the ongoing search for self.

 

Participating artists include Lawrence Abu-Hamdan (London, England), Rachel Jones Deris (New Orleans, LA), Nicole Miller (Los Angeles, CA), Duane Pitre (New Orleans, LA), Ana Prvacki & Sam Durant (Los Angeles, CA), Lucy Raven & Alex Abramovich (Oakland, CA and Astoria, NY), and Elizabeth Shannon (New Orleans, LA).

 

On Saturday, March 22nd, Wilkerson will host a walk-through of the exhibition at 3pm. Additional programming includes a listening workshop and Q&A led by New Orleans-based composer and sound artist Pitre on Saturday, April 5th at 1pm.

 

Download Press Release

 

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Emily Wilkerson is a writer and curator based in New Orleans, LA. She is a regular contributor to Pelican Bomb, an online platform dedicated to contemporary art in Louisiana. Wilkerson has worked on exhibitions and projects at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Chinati Foundation, and the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, and was involved with the development and presentation of Prospect.1 New Orleans and Pacific Standard Time in Los Angeles. She previously served as contemporary curator at Longue Vue House and Gardens, a historical house museum in New Orleans. Her ongoing research focuses on socially engaged art practices and the alternative educational strategies of international artist and curatorial residencies, the latter for which she was awarded the 2011-2012 Neely Macomber Travel Prize. She completed her Masters at the University of Southern California in Art and Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere in Los Angeles in 2012 and holds a B.A. from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.