A reading and performance on November 7 by Queer|Art|Mentorship artists Cristóbal Guerra, Ripley Soprano, and Candystore will activate works on display in the Bureau. Guerra presents a three-dimensional iteration of their book La Señal, about the historical narratives that have shaped colonial resistance in the islands currently known as “Puerto Rico.” Soprano performs poems and sound collages as part of their installation harmreduxxcommunism. Candystore screens a video collaboration with Jake Brush about the anus as a portal for self-discovery, universality, and connection via poetic and performative sensibilities.

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This event is part of the 2018-2019 Queer|Art|Mentorship Annual, curated by current Fellow Jeanne Vaccaro and titled “How do we know what we need you to know: Intimate access and collective care.” The exhibition will present across multiple formats and locations (including The LGBT Community Center, Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, Movement Research, and La MaMa E.T.C.) new work by the graduating Fellows of the 2018-2019 Queer|Art|Mentorship program: J. Bouey, Candystore, Daniel Chew, Xandra Clark, Sarah Creagen, Cristóbal Guerra, Russell Perkins, Ripley Soprano, and Natalie Tsui. Learn more at www.queer-art.org/qam-annual

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About Cristóbal Guerra

Cristóbal Guerra is an interdisciplinary artist from Puerto Rico. Their work combines experimental video, documentary film, visual art, and text to explore ideas of “home”, el caribe, queerness and belonging. Through an interdisciplinary practice Cristóbal aims to explore the lived experience of being raised queer in the colony of PR in conversation with an evolving identity shaped by diasporic experience. Through research, experimental video, and text they look for the political in the personal. Intimate archival footage and documentary work seek to articulate present processes through a type of closure with the past, while poetry, prose, and other texts sets its sights on imaginaries that take into account the “canon”—and what was excluded from it—during the artist’s process of learning their own history as a colonial subject. Cristóbal work commonly deals with memory, language, new media and its relations to the Boricua diaspora. And more recently, the idea of non-corporeality and post-nationalistic thought informs the wrting of “La Señal”, a book the artist has developed during their time at Queer|Art|Mentorship.

About Ripley Soprano

Ripley Soprano is an organizer and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. They have been organizing for over a decade around racial and economic justice issues. They co-founded New York 2 New Orleans Coalition (NY2NO), New York Students Rising, Youngist: young people-powered media, and the fundraising collective “Shadowbanned” that materially supports sex workers facing criminalization. They are an editor and co-owner of Mask Magazine, and are currently co-authoring a book on the social history of incest for TigerBee Press alongside Sophia Giovannitti. Ripley has been published in Mask, AlterNet, The Nation Magazine, the New York Times, and Salon.

About Candystore

Imagine you are staring at a naked butt. On the left cheek is the letter “J” and on the right cheek are the letters “O” and “Y”. The ethos of Candystore’s artistic practice is to spread JOY. She-he thinks labels are short-sighted / obnoxious and art is more powerful when it is made accessible and in collaboration. Like many before shimher, Candystore has been cursed to consider the world poetically (ugh) and is at least trying to have a little fun with that. She-he was a 2018-2019 artist-in-residence with Shandaken: Governor’s Island. In 2019, she was one of four recipients of the Shannon Michael Cane Award from Printed Matter, which allowed shimher the opportunity to self-publish her debut book of poetry, Hi Angels. Candystore’s writing and art have been published in PAPER Magazine, Phile Magazine, Riot of Perfume, Precog Mag, RFD, and others. She-he has performed around New York City, most notably at MoMA PS1, though it was only in the book store. Candystore also performs every time she-he uses a public restroom. She-he loves dick and lives in Brooklyn, NY in a pink room.