Queer Women's Artist Lab: New Orleans
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Queer Women's Artist Lab: New Orleans
Monday, 18 November to Friday, 22 November 2024
Early Deadline to Apply: Thursday, 26 September 2024.
Final Deadline to Apply: Thursday, 10 October 2024.
Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis until space is filled. Artists are encouraged to apply well before the deadline.
Queer Women's Artist Lab: New Orleans will take as its premise that 21st century queer women’s identity is the culmination of decades of construction and ask: What does it mean to be a queer woman in the 21st century? How do we understand and celebrate the diversity of our queer women considering gender identity and expression? What does it mean to “come out” in a world that promises acceptance? What does it mean to “come out later in life”? How does our relationship to “the closet” change as we evolve? What does it mean to be queer youth today? How do we evolve, grow, develop, mature in a world where we are misunderstood, fetishized, marginalized, invisible, threatening, and lack role models? How do we care for ourselves, physically and mentally, when we face great health disparities and lack access to healthcare? What about our female friendship, love partnerships, or community? Are apps a place where we can connect, find friendship or love? What does community mean as a queer woman, solo, single, or in a relationship? Most of our bars are gone and yet we continue to create places to gather. How do we build and sustain a community? What is the future of queer women’s space? How do we support young queer women carving new spaces for themselves? How do we ensure an inclusive community? How do we support our trans, non-binary and queer men siblings? What about the families we create? How do we grow old? How do we remember who came before us? How do we pass knowledge to future generations of queer women? What does feminism mean to us? What about activism? Covid-19 was not our first pandemic. How do we unpack the trauma of seeing how much the world can respond when they care about who is affected? How do we stand in solidarity with those who live in societies that criminalize homosexuality? How do we decolonize queer identity and create space that welcomes and celebrates queer women of color? What is our place in a late-stage capitalism that treats us as labor and assets? How do we understand our place in the world? How do we want to be seen? How do we make ourselves understood? How can artists help us make sense of all of this? This is not an exhaustive list.
The goal of the Queer Women's Artist Lab: New Orleans is to equip artists with tools and strategies for picking up the unfinished work of history and speak to contemporary civic discourse around social, economic, and environmental issues. Through interactive sessions in the Lab and panel discussions, artists will explore their process and practice; present a slideshow of their work; receive supportive, critical, curatorial feedback about their ideas; and discuss contemporary issues.
The lab is open to any artist, regardless of how they identify, who wants to make contemporary artwork that speaks to the experience of Queer Women. We think of “Queer Women” as an amorphous state of being, one that is self-determined and inclusive of a broad range of human experiences. In this sense, we do not seek to define Queer Women rather we seek to question, What does it mean to be a queer woman today?
During the lab, artists will make collage to explore artist practice, process, and meaning making. Artists will explore the queer geography and history of New Orleans and consider how similar geographies and histories from their home communities may inform their proposal. Artists will complete the Lab with a project proposal for a contemporary art project and a sample work that will be considered for an exhibition that will take place in 2025 or 2026.
The Queer Women's Artist Lab: New Orleans is part of Kolaj Institute's larger exploration of 21st Century queer identities which will culminate in an exhibition and book in 2025 and 2026.
What Is an Artist Lab?
Artist Labs are an intensive series of workshops and discussions designed to foster the integration of history and contemporary art into an artist’s practice. Produced in concert with Art Meets History, Labs include specific discussions about the medium of collage including the challenge of creating large work and issues of appropriation, copyright, and fair use and explore how the artist’s choice and understanding of material shapes the narrative of the artwork. After the Lab, artists will leave with a network of peer support; an idea for a project; and the task of turning that idea into a project proposal and a sample work.
Who is this for?
Queer Women's Artist Lab is in-person and centered on collage artists who want to develop their artist practice to include using history and historic sites to speak to contemporary issues pertinent to queer identity. Artist Labs are professional development programs, intended for self-motivated artists, regardless of the stage in their career, who want to explore a topic or working method and collaborate with others. The focused goal of the Lab is a proposal for artwork that may be included in a book and exhibition.
COST
The cost of the Artist Lab is $750 per artist.
Activities such as tours and museum visits are included in the fee. Artists are responsible for their own travel to New Orleans, accommodations, and meals. A limited number of partial grants is available to offset the fees and to ease barriers to participation. Financial Aid is limited and possible through the support of donors to Kolaj Institute.