Join artist Melanie Crean for an intimate walkthrough of the exhibition “Mirror/Echo/Tilt”followed by a poetry reading by Jess Saldaña. This program is part of “A Possibility that Exists Alongside,” a series of artist-led gallery talks and poetry readings highlighting the capacity of voice—through writing, speech, and movement—to challenge, provoke, and create new possibilities. “Mirror/Echo/Tilt” is a video, performance, and pedagogical project created by artists Melanie Crean, Shaun Leonardo, and Sable Elyse Smith in collaboration with individuals affected by the justice system. Focusing on embodied gesture across fragmented and repeated vignettes, the multichannel video employs nonverbal forms of meter, pause, and syntax to counter narratives imposed by the carceral state.
Jess Saldaña is a Chicanx muralist, poet, performer, and analogue film photographer from the industrial Southside of Chicago. They opened the performance space Affections in the Ridgewood/Bushwick area, where they curate programming and continue their painting practice. Their writing focuses on decolonizing, movement, visual and linguistic theory in relation to the queer minoritarian subject, hauntological totality, the plurality of being, fungibility, reproductive labor, digital labor, and corporate detritus. They studied Music Composition and Theatre at Columbia College, Chicago; Fine Art at the New School, New York; and Performance Studies at New York University.
Attendance is free, but RSVP is required. To RSVP, please email publicprograms@newmuseum.org.
