MY NEXT INCARNATION
March 19 - April 23, 2022
Image courtesy of artist: Malavika Rao, “Life in the Zenana: Courtesan reading anti-national literature in her chambers”, 2020
Idolwild is pleased to present My Next Incarnation, a collective exhibition featuring four women and non-binary artists working with various media such as photography, painting, collage, and dance. This exhibition is curated by Yiwei Lu, an LA based independent curator who strives to highlight the work of primary Asian and female artists.
My Next Incarnation is a testament from all the participants in this exhibition regarding issues around gender and identity. From the day we are born, society starts to feed us information about who we are and labels us according to race, gender, nationality, social class, etc. By refusing to be passive followers of such norms, this new generation of artists demonstrates their power by creating their own idealized worlds and exploring the boundaries through their media.
Influenced by her personal journey with gender identity growing up in China, Wanyue An places their subjects in giant, hand-sewn “body socks” to play with the idea of removing all connection to gender, and as a result, the amorphous blobs start to lose their ties to their human bodies. This puts into question what factors validate existence and what defines identity? In collaboration with Wanyue, Yolanda Tianyi Shao choreographs ‘Breaking the Persona’, a contemporary dance work of movement which re-interprets the existence of the self into otherworldly forms of human sculpture. After experiencing a series of painful events from her life, artist Peipei Li gets empowered by viewing solitude as a form of communicating with oneself and shares this lesson through her narrative paintings. Returning to historical Zenana (part of the house reserved only for femme-identifying persons in India and Iran), Malavika Rao’s 2020 painting series ‘Life in the Zenana’ tells of a world where it’s inhabitants take refuge in a dream and identity is not inextricably linked to oppression. A world that is supportive, caring, and generous.
On view March 19 - April 23, 2022
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 19, 6PM-9PM
