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THE HUNGRY GIRLS:A PARADE

March 2017. Parris St. Sunset

The Hungry Girls began as something else, but became about needing a new liaison to the body one lives in. About reframing and unforming the movements and postures inherited specifically by women. About acknowledging what places, circumstances, and times we execute those motions. About looking for and generating the spaces in which we could/can/may/might (!) transcend them.

Performed by Gelsey Amelia, Deanna DeMatteo, Lorenza Lattanzi, Kathryn O’Neil, Kelly Sue Rioux, Codruta Valentina Sound by W00DY

Rare Fruit artist series #2: IF WE CANNOT BELONG & MAY NOT LEAVE by Lynx Rainer & Noel’le Longhaul

Opening night October 16th 2016 8:00 -10:00 p.m. Artist Talk Wednesday, November 30th 2016 8:00 p.m.

This installation is a vigil -- a collective ritualization; a space for mourning the destroyed bodies of trans women and the meta-body of the planet. Struggling towards solid ground from marginal positions, a stable home (literally and spiritually) has been elusive to us as trans women. Believing we belong to a lineage of resistant, adaptive, and agile spiritualities that have had their ability to root stolen from them, we seek to create a space to shape a temporary home for that lineage. Through the construction of a fragmented house, we are acknowledging the destruction of the history of feminized knowledges. The house is coming together because we are building a home for ourselves as trans witches; the house is falling apart because the witch hunts are alive and well. At the center of these vortices is an effigy that will act as the stand-in for our bodies. The rest of the installation is meant to complicate the idea of belonging, and to provide a series of pathways for us to follow over and over, as prayers. The center of the installation is meant to serve as a thicket of those pathways, to confuse ecology with physiology, and to make an offering of ourselves. It is a confirmation of the twin fragility and power of our bodies. In weaving the figure with thorny brambles gathered from our current material home which is in an eviction battle - a place that we felt we momentarily belonged to - we materially reference the vines that feed us in the summer and the imagery of the church that has destroyed our ability to find a home in our genders and our spirits. The effigy acknowledges the struggle to remain in our bodies through the trauma inflicted upon them by our inherited worlds.

*Lynx Rainer makes paintings as part of a larger practice of devotion to a poetics of resistance. She was born to white settlers in what is now called western Massachusetts. Her art has its origins in her experience as a trans woman with a modicum of political awareness, and the rebel spirituality that is witchcraft. She is an ex-line cook and lives with severe chronic illness, performing acts of caring labor and political volunteerism in a collective house called the Milky Way.

*Born and once again residing in the hills of Western Massachusetts, Noel'le Longhaul holds a 2013 BFA in printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design. After years of freight-train transience, DIY artmaking and stick-and-poke tattooing, she is now a self-taught, licensed tattooer, and has traveled the world over via invitation to ply that trade. As much a practicing witch as an artist, she speaks through a diversity of art mediums as a devotional practice, trying to use them to interrogate capital and colonialism while holding their antagonists in reverence.

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The RARE FRUIT installation series was designed as a way to give space to artists who exist in the margins of the traditional arts and artist support systems. Their work and beliefs that may not fit the mold of sellable artwork and art for profit. Each artists is given a stipend and unlimited access to the New Fruit studio to create their vision. rare fruit is partially funded by the Kindling Fund.

#rarefruit #newfruit #noel'lelonghaul #lynxrainer

Rare Fruit artist series #1 I COLLECT CHAOS: The Public Purge By Heather Blersch

Monday June 20th 2016 Opening Reception

"In the city I watch a dumpster fill, remnants of generational accumulation spilling out of this metal box. People squatting in their family home, tossed out, victims of gentrification and poverty ... I am an addict. My addiction is obsessive, cluttered, and self effacing thoughts. I hoard negative thoughts and behaviors. Despite my best intentions, I also keep things. Most everything I collect has almost no bearing on my life or well being. This unchecked accumulation mirrors my thoughts. Piles of nothing important. Until there is no room for calm anymore. It is all chaos."

Heather Blersch feels totally uncomfortable yet compelled to create art work that may resonate with people. She uses collage, sculpture, written word, her unpaid education, and unchecked need for therapy to facilitate conversations that do not have an answer. Currently working as a baker in the middle of the night, she gains inspiration from overthinking and nature. Heather has been living in Portland, Maine for 25 years. This will be her first installation.

*Viewers are encouraged to touch the exhibit, and take items away from it, revealing other aspects of the piece.

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The Rare Fruit installation series was designed as a way to give space to artists who exist in the margins of the traditional arts and artist support systems. Their work and beliefs that may not fit the mold of sellable artwork and art for profit. Each artists is given a stipend and unlimited access to the New Fruit studio to create their vision. rare fruit is partially funded by the Kindling Fund.