The Ceremony Must be Found: Ritual as Artistic Practice
January 18 - March 2, 2024
Opening Reception: January 18, 6-8 PM
Artists
manuel arturo abreu
Marielys Burgos Meléndez
Dana Davenport
Caroline Garcia
Catalina Ouyang
Vivek Shraya
Qualeasha Wood
Curator: Anna Cahn
The Ceremony Must be Found: Ritual as Artistic Practice explores the potential of ritual as a site for decolonial, feminist, and queer politics. Working across different media such as performance, dance, text, video, photography, sculpture, and installation, artists imagine what contemporary ritual means to them. The show draws inspiration from feminist thinkers’ approaches to ritual through the writings of Gloria Anzaldúa, bell hooks, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Sylvia Wynter. The exhibition title references Wynter’s 1984 essay, “The Ceremony Must be Found: After Humanism.” Artists in the show invoke their own acts of ceremony—countering hegemonic modes of knowledge production with alternate approaches to identity formation. Shown together for the first time, these artists consider the ways in which ritual enables the crossing of physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, sexual, and political borders.
Public Programs:
Opening Reception
Thursday, January 18, 6-8 PM
In person at EFA Project Space
323 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018
Free and open to the public.
Baking as Ritual
A Reflection Lead by Gaëlle Aminata Colin
Thursday, February 1, 6:30-8:30 PM
During this reflection, Gaëlle Aminata Colin will explore baking as ritual by connecting her personal baking practice and her work on food as a space for joy and community.
In person at EFA Project Space
323 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018
Free and open to the public.
Writing as Ritual
A Curatorial Seminar Lead by Anna Cahn
Saturday, February 17, 1-3 PM
During this special curatorial seminar, Anna Cahn will lead a group discussion and writing workshop that reflects upon the idea of writing as a ritual practice. A selection of texts will be provided to participants in preparation for seminar discussion and creative writing exercises.
In person at EFA Project Space
323 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018
Free and open to the public.
Catalog Launch and Performance: subharmonic inquiry
A performance by manuel arturo abreu and Jonathan González
Thursday, February 29, 6:30-8:30 PM
abreu will present a virtual reading in accompaniment to their poetic intervention in the exhibition. Performer Jonathan González will simultaneously activate abreu’s installation in the gallery in real time. The intervention will question language’s ability to represent ritual practices and reflect on how bodies move through temporal environments and borders.
In person at EFA Project Space
323 W 39th St, New York, NY 10018
Free and open to the public.
Caroline Garcia, Image still from Queen of the Carabao, 2018, 1-channel digital video, color, sound, 30:00 mins.
Vivek Shraya, I’m Afraid of Men, 2018, single-channel video, 09:39 minutes. Photograph by Zachary Ayotte.
Marielys Burgos Meléndez, Invocations: Oshún (Río Espíritu Santo, El Yunque, Puerto Rico), Ritual Performance/ Performance Photography, 2021/2023, Photography by Paola López.
Exhibition Photography by Jason Mandella
Left to right:
Catalina Ouyang, doubt I (the wreck and not the story of the wreck / at the floor of the flood / primordial lovers / groaning dreadfully / What have we done so wrong.), 2020, hand-carved alabaster, hydrocal, pigment, resin, carved maple, epoxy clay, found fabric, oyster shells, woven leather, drag net, 36 x 16 x 11 inches, Courtesy of Lyles & King Gallery; Catalina Ouyang, it bears the traces if not the stigmata of its ancestry (Oriental Jane Doe), 2020, horse tibia, lime plaster, gypsum plaster, fabric, pigment, shellac, beeswax, resin, wood, ammonite fossil, 30 x 16 x 11 inches, Courtesy of Lyles & King Gallery; Marielys Burgos Meléndez, Invocations: Oshún (Río Espíritu Santo, El Yunque, Puerto Rico), 2021/2023, Multimedia Dance/ Ritual Installation, dimensions variable, Concept, Ritual, Text, Videography, & Narration: Marielys Burgos Meléndez, Photography by Paola López; Dana Davenport, Window #1, 2023, plywood, resin, transparency film, family photos, metal, 18 x 47 inches; manuel arturo abreu, Untitled (Herramienta de concha), 2024, Site-specific installation with crushed oyster shell powder, dimensions variable.
Image description: Two sculptures are mounted on the left wall. On a side wall, a video with headphones plays on a monitor. Four photos hang on the right wall. A collage-based work that uses photomontage and beading hangs from the ceiling. Crushed oyster shell powder lines the periphery of the gallery.
Left to right:
Dana Davenport, Window #1, 2023, plywood, resin, transparency film, family photos, metal, 18 x 47 inches; Vivek Shraya, I’m Afraid of Men, 2018, Single-channel video, 0:09:39 minutes; Catalina Ouyang, otherwise, spite: 1. whores at the end of the world / 2. from every drop of his blood another demon arose (1829-1840), 2020, Various materials, dimensions variable, courtesy of Lyles & King Gallery; Qualeasha Wood, BSoD, 2023, cotton Jacquard weave, glass beads, 60 x 82 inches, Courtesy of Kendra Jayne Patrick Gallery; Vivek Schraya, Trisha, 2016, photographs and text, dimensions variable; Dana Davenport, Box Braid Chandelier #2, 2018, steel, plastic beads, synthetic hair from Sam’s Beauty (Online), 14 x 28 inches; manuel arturo abreu, Untitled (Herramienta de concha), 2024, Site-specific installation with crushed oyster shell powder, dimensions variable.
Image description: On the left of the gallery, a collage-based work that uses photomontage and beading hangs from the ceiling. On the gallery’s floor sits a life-size figurative sculpture. On the back wall, a video with headphones plays on a monitor. To its right is a large tapestry made of cotton and colorful beads mounted on the wall. The two following walls contain twelve photos of varying sizes and accompanying wall text. A sculpture of a box-braid chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Crushed oyster shell powder lines the periphery of the gallery.
Left to right:
Vivek Shraya, Trisha, 2016, photographs and text, dimensions variable.
Dana Davenport, Box Braid Chandelier #2, 2018, steel, plastic beads, synthetic hair from Sam’s Beauty (Online), 14 x 28 inches.
manuel arturo abreu, Untitled (Herramienta de concha), 2024, Site-specific installation with crushed oyster shell powder, dimensions variable.
Image description: Three white walls containing nine pairs of photographs and accompanying text. A sculpture of a box-braid chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Crushed oyster shell powder lines the periphery of the gallery.
Left to right:
Vivek Shraya, I’m Afraid of Men, 2018, Single-channel video, 0:09:39 minutes.
Catalina Ouyang, otherwise, spite: 1. whores at the end of the world / 2. from every drop of his blood another demon arose (1829-1840), 2020, Various materials, dimensions variable, courtesy of Lyles & King Gallery.
Qualeasha Wood, BSoD, 2023, cotton Jacquard weave, glass beads, 60 x 82 inches, Courtesy of Kendra Jayne Patrick Gallery.
manuel arturo abreu, Untitled (Herramienta de concha), 2024, Site-specific installation with crushed oyster shell powder, dimensions variable.
Image description: On the left wall, a video with headphones plays on a monitor. In the foreground, a figurative life-size sculpture sits on the gallery’s floor. A tapestry is mounted on a wall to the left of the gallery space. Crushed oyster shell powder lines the periphery of the gallery.
Left to right:
Dana Davenport, Window #1, 2023, plywood, resin, transparency film, family photos, metal, 18 x 47 inches.
Caroline Garcia, Force Field, 2023-2024, augmented reality app and site-specific drawing, dimensions variable.
Dana Davenport, Box Braid Chandelier #2, 2018, steel, plastic beads, synthetic hair from Sam’s Beauty (Online), 14 x 28 inches.
Catalina Ouyang, otherwise, spite: 1. whores at the end of the world / 2. from every drop of his blood another demon arose (1829-1840), 2020, Various materials, dimensions variable, courtesy of Lyles & King Gallery.
manuel arturo abreu, Untitled (Herramienta de concha), 2024, Site-specific installation with crushed oyster shell powder, dimensions variable.
Image description: The gallery’s large windows are located on the back of the image. The central window contains two site-specific drawings with QR Codes. On the gallery’s ceiling on the left hangs a collage-based work that uses photomontage and beading. In front of the QR code, hangs a box braid chandelier sculpture. Towards the right of the chandelier, on the floor, sits a figurative life-size sculpture. Crushed oyster shell powder is located on the periphery of the gallery.
Left to right:
Caroline Garcia, Tropical Dissent (Weapon No. 6), 2023, 3-D printed polylatic acid, filament, wood, paracord, 14 x 36 x 4 inches.
Caroline Garcia, Queen of the Carabao, 2018, 1-channel video, color, sound, 30:00 minutes.
manuel arturo abreu, Untitled (Herramienta de concha), 2024, Site-specific installation with crushed oyster shell powder, dimensions variable.
Image description: To the left is a stand with a sculpture on top of it. To the right of the gallery is a large projection of a 1-channel video with a split screen. A person watches the video while sitting on a bench. Crushed oyster shell powder lines the periphery of the gallery.
Event Photography by EFA Project Space
