Chris E. Vargas: Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art: Transgender Hirstory in 99 Objects

Transgender Hirstory in 99 Objects is a visual and material exploration of objects that hold significance in narrating the history of transgender communities. After assessing the absences in a number of LGBTQ archives throughout the U.S. and Canada, Vargas will commission transgender artists to fabricate missing objects. Accompanying text will explore the reasons for each absence.
 

HouseFull is a site-specific dance-theater piece addressing issues facing women of color in Oakland, CA. Over the course of an 18-month creation process, the artistic team will gather stories and information to create a series of short episodes. The episodes will shed light on the troubling issues of sex trafficking, the rampant displacement of long-time residents, and addresses the complex realities that women experience in a patriarchal society.

Monumental, Cassils’s second solo exhibition at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, opening Sept. 9, 2017, will feature two monuments. One, a 1,300-pound sculpture, Resilience of the 20%, was formed by kicks and blows through a performance in which the artist attacks 2,000 pounds of modeling clay in total darkness. The sculpture was cast in bronze and pushed to sites where violence against the LGBTQI community have occurred, giving shape to trauma and the resilient human spirit. A second monument, PISSED, is a minimalist cube, containing more than 200 gallons of urine, a collection of every piss the artist has taken since the repeal of the Obama-era order that protected the rights of trans youth. These monuments create a visual language for the gender non-conforming bodies under siege during the current administration.