Red Canary Sings: Karaoke Fundraiser

Saturday February 17, 2024

 

Saturday, February 17th, 2023

2pm – 6pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY, 10012

 

[RSVP]

 

Welcome the Year of the Dragon on the final day of Red Canary Song’s exhibition Flower Spa: Solidarity Outside In! On February 17 from 2-6pm, Storefront will host Red Canary Sings: A Karaoke Fundraiser to support RCS.

 

The event will be MC’d by very special guest Drag King Wang Newton and includes opening performances by KQT Pungmul, a crew of Korean Queer and Trans pungmul dummers based in NYC, an art auction with handcrafted works by Studio Jin Kwak, and Korean fare by RCS’s very own Charlotte, Mixtress of Kimchi!

 

This is a free community event to raise funds and celebrate the very important work that RCS does. RSVP and masks are strongly encouraged!

 

On the Ground

Flower Spa by Red Canary Song is the result of an open call for proposals connected to On the Ground, a yearlong research project and exhibition series about New York City’s ground floor. Through a close look at the urban typology of the storefront, this expansive endeavor presents newly commissioned artistic explorations and dialogues about the heterogeneous threshold between public and private space throughout 2023 and early 2024. The project unfolds through three exhibitions, a radio show, an open call, a public program, and a thematic reader.

 

Storefront would like to thank frieze Magazine for their partnership in this project, as well as the jury that selected the winning proposal composed of Naomi Beckwith, Tom Finkelpearl, Danielle A. Jackson, Sohrab Mohebbi, Manuela Moscoso, and Felicity D. Scott. 

 

Support  

This exhibition has been made possible through the support of the Graham Foundation, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; with invaluable support from Storefront’s Board of Directors, the Storefront Circle, Storefront members, and individual donors. Storefront is a proud member of CANNY (Collaborative Arts Network New York), currently supported by the Mellon Foundation, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Arison Arts Foundation, Imperfect Family Foundation, and Jay DeFeo Foundation. 

Storefront Fellowship – On the Ground’s Margins: How is free convivial space built?

Tuesday November 28, 2023

 

 

Tuesday, November 28th, 2023

6pm – 8pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY, 10012

 

[RSVP]

 

The objective of this workshop is to explore how free convivial space is produced, sustained and shared in New York City through examining everyday objects that make these spaces possible.
 
The session will gather Woodbine and Interference Archive — two local collectives that have been operating on the margins of the capitalist-consumerist world, building autonomous communities that that share a space, ideas, art, tools, skills and knowledge in their local contexts and beyond — to participate in a public conversation at Storefront of Art and Architecture.
 
Organized by Andrea Molina and Tianyu Yang, the workshop takes the format of an ephemeral show followed by an object-triggered conversation. The collectives will bring into Storefront various documents, ephemera and everyday objects that, functioning outside their market value, weave together the foundational infrastructures and human relationships that enable the emergence of free spaces. These materials act as props that unpack the stories, political realities, and future imaginaries of the convivial forms of practice that emerge in their spaces. During the session, the public will be offered the opportunity to engage with, circulate, and interrogate these objects as a form of intimate exchange and collective learning. By bringing this selection of objects into Storefront, we hope a new collaborative scene of free space emerges at the gallery — one that combines qualities of Woodbine and Interference Archive together with the collective involvement of Storefront’s community.

 

About the Participants

Woodbine is a volunteer-run collective based in Ridgewood, Queens since the early 2010s. Initially founded as an informal space to share radical, political ideas among friends -today, Woodbine has turned into a community magnet with a very active weekly programming which range from a food pantry, a library, reading groups, community dinners, and an editorial practice. This October, Woodbine published the second issue of their journal, The Reservoir: Communion with Autonomedia, featuring new texts by Kazembe Balagun, Elizabeth Povinelli, Geert Lovink, Kristin Ross, Experimental Jetset, and Marcello Tarì, as well as a previously unpublished interview with Félix Guattari.
 
Interference Archive is a volunteer-run open-stacks archive in Park Slope, Brooklyn since 2011. As an open stack archive, IA actively collects printed-materials that explore the relationship between cultural production and social movements. The materials collected are free for anyone to browse. The Archive also publishes pamphlets and holds public programs, including exhibitions, workshops and screenings, all of which encourages critical and creative engagement with the rich history of social movements. The most recent event, “What is Political Education,” explores how archival materials of political movement can be integrated into different teaching contexts.

Architecture and Writings by Vito Acconci

Thursday October 26, 2023

Hosted with anonymous gallery

Image: Vito Acconci and Steven Holl, Rendering of Storefront Facade, 1993

 

Thursday, October 26th, 2023

6pm – 8pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY, 10012

 

[RSVP]

 

An evening of readings of the work of artist Vito Acconci —author of Storefront’s iconic facade with architect Steven Holl— by Justin Beal, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Elliot Reed. The event is organized by David Lindsay on the occasion of anonymous gallery’s exhibition Vito Acconci – Here, There, on view through October 28. 

 

From his beginnings in poetry to one of his most charged and transitional films, the exhibition Here, There, explores the core of Acconci’s long and varied practice – a commitment to pushing the boundaries of what language can achieve, both as carriers of meaning and as sonic elements that can evoke emotional response.

 

Acconci’s lesser known work as a poet is characterized by an exploratory nature, often using words as the means for the dissolution of traditional distinctions between author and audience. Through his interactive and participatory use of wordplay, he invites the public to become an active collaborator in the construction of meaning. This engagement transforms the act of reading into a dynamic and interactive experience, blurring the lines between the solitary act of reading and the communal act of performance. Read more about the exhibition here

 

About the Participants

Justin Beal is an artist and writer. He was co-curator of the exhibition Public Space in a Private Time: Building Storefront for Art and Architecture, organized on the occasion of the 40th anniversary. He currently sits on Storefront’s board of directors. 

 

Kameelah Janan Rasheed an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Her practice is invested in the shifting ecosystems of Black epistemologies and the agile relationships between the varied modes of reading, writing, archiving, editing, translating, publishing, reflecting upon, and arranging narratives about lived Black experiences.

 

Elliot Reed is an artist, based in New York working across video, dance, performance, and sculpture. He received his MA in Choreography from Master EXERCE ICI-CCN in Montpellier France, and is a member of The Whitney Museum ISP 23-24 cohort.

 

David Lindsay is a poet, visual artist, curator and writer currently residing in New York. His work explores the edge of our built environment and its flowers. And where to go from there. He is a curator of poetry working at large, as well as with Artist Space, Segue Foundation, and anonymous Gallery. He is currently a candidate for a Masters in Fine Arts at Bard College. 

 

architect, verb Launch with Reinier de Graaf

Tuesday October 24, 2023

Hosted by Verso Books

Image: Cover illustration of architect, verb by Reinier de Graaf

 

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

6:30pm – 8pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY 10012

 

[RSVP]

 

Join architect Reinier de Graaf, partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), for the presentation of his recent book titled architect, verb. This event is hosted by Verso Books. 

 

From Verso Books: Leading architect Reinier de Graaf punctures the myths behind the debates on what contemporary architecture is, with wit and devastating honesty. No longer does it suffice to judge a building solely by its appearance, it must be measured, and certified. When architects talk about ‘Excellence’, ‘Sustainability’, ‘Well-being’, ‘Liveability’, ‘Placemaking’, ‘Creativity’, ‘Beauty’ and ‘Innovation’ what do they actually mean? And what does this say about for the future of our homes, cities, planet?

 

architect, verb. also includes a biting, satirical dictionary of ‘profspeak’: the corporate language of consultants, developers and planners from ‘Active listening’ to ‘Zoom Readiness’.

 

Read more and purchase here

 

Reinier de Graaf (1964, Schiedam) is a Dutch architect and writer. He is a partner in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and the co-founder of its think-tank AMO. Reinier is the author of Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession, the novel The Masterplan, and the recently published architect, verb. He lives in Amsterdam.

 

Direct Action: Exhibition Events

Saturday June 17, 2023 – Saturday September 9, 2023


Performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir for opening night of Direct Action. Photo by PJ Rountree

 

Direct Action

Francisca Benítez

 

Exhibition Events:
June 17th – September 9th

 

Gallery Hours:
Wednesdays – Saturdays, 12-6 pm

 

Accessible public space can only exist if it is collectively created, used, exercised, and cared for. Dissent and meaningful dialogue are forms of expression that uncover its political possibilities. Direct Action by Francisca Benítez explores the many ways in which the artist and activist grapples with the ethics of protest and her sustained commitment to solidarity through collective action.

 

Throughout the run of the exhibition, the gallery will operate as a meeting room, a rehearsal studio, a writing workshop, and an urban stage. By opening up the space of the institution to the many activist groups she is an integral part of, Benítez transforms Storefront into a site for social intervention. Direct Action invites the audience to consider the possibilities of protest, and encourage participation in local collective organizing efforts.

 

Read more about Direct Action here.

See the list of scheduled exhibition events below.

 

Scheduled Events:

June 17, 6pm: Performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir

June 29, 5pm – 7pm: Performance by Leila Adu with Savitri D.

July 6, 5-7pm: Performance by Leila Adu with Kwami Coleman and Erich Barganier

July 7, 2:30-4pm: Art Against Displacement zine-making party

July 11, 6:30pm: Art Against Displacement monthly meeting

July 15, 5-7pm: Performance by Ali Dineen

July 29, 4-6pm: Performance by Raimundo

August 3, 1pm: Performance by Ray Santiago

August 8, 6:30pm: Art Against Displacement monthly meeting

August 12, 5-7pm: Performance by Cecilia Vicuña and Ricardo Gallo

August 19, 4-6pm: Performance by Eduardo Pavez Goye

August 26, 5-7pm: Performance by Ricardo Gallo and Amirtha Kidambi

September 1, 5pm: Performance by Sunder Ganglani

September 2, 2pm: Performance by Gregory Corbino

September 8, 7-8pm: Film Program

September 9, 6pm: Performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir

 

On the Ground
Direct Action is presented as part of On the Ground, a yearlong research project and exhibition series about New York City’s ground floor. Through a close look at the urban typology of the storefront, this expansive endeavor presents newly commissioned artistic explorations and dialogues about the heterogeneous threshold between public and private space throughout 2023. The project will unfold through three exhibitions, a radio show, an open call, a public program, and a thematic reader. 

 

Support
This exhibition has been made possible through the support of the Graham Foundation, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; with invaluable support from Storefront’s Board of Directors, the Storefront Circle, Storefront members, and individual donors. Storefront is a proud member of CANNY (Collaborative Arts Network New York), currently supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Arison Arts Foundation, Imperfect Family Foundation, and the Jay DeFeo Foundation.

 

Member’s Event: Guided Tour of New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original

Thursday May 11, 2023

 

Thursday May 11, 2023,

5pm-6pm

97 Kenmare St,

New York NY 10012

 

[RSVP]

 

Storefront members are invited to join curators for a guided tour of New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original, currently on view at Storefront. 

New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original looks at the spatial effects of the criminalization of informal markets and the contemporary repercussions this has on sidewalks and across the facades of Lower Manhattan. Over the course of the exhibition, Canal Street Research Association has “bootlegged” a historic Canal Street counterfeit bust by tracing its historical antecedents in order to understand current-day conditions. Presenting Ming Fay’s seminal Monumental Fruit public artwork honoring street vendors, the archival and speculative research for this re-staging takes various modes: resurfacing Fay’s proposals and artworks, creating a modular display system in collaboration with architectural collective common room, and pursuing an active intervention on Storefront’s facade.

 

Read more about New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original here.

 

If you would like to join and are not yet a Storefront member, please sign up here, or contact us at membership@storefrontnews.org.

 

Note to members: Please RSVP by Tuesday May 9.

Canal Street Research Association: FRUITS

Sunday May 7, 2023

Image courtesy of Ming Fay Studio

 

Sunday, May 7, 2023
3pm-5pm

97 Kenmare Street,

New York, NY,10012

 

[RSVP]

 

On Sunday, May 7, Canal Street Research Association presents FRUITS, a spring celebration and ode to triangles, street vendors, and the complexity of Canal Street. Beginning at their current exhibition, New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original at Storefront, visitors will embark on a meandering procession through the neighborhood streetscape before arriving at the tip of the so-called “Counterfeit Triangle” where Canal, Walker, and Baxter Streets meet — formerly home to a vibrant street market of produce sellers known as the Triangle Vendors. There, the small forest at the Triangle’s tip will play host to a set of performances and reflections from artist Emmy Catedral with poet Paolo Javier, channeling poet Frances Chung, and poet and critic John Yau, author of Crossing Canal Street. The group will convene under the trees to enjoy offerings and refreshments, including ephemeral hangings by artists Ryan Foerster and chef RJ Gitter, ad hoc seating by designer/builder Sebastijan Jemec, with materials donated by Citygroup and Bracket Creek Exhibitions.

 

Documentation courtesy of Loong Mah and Connor Sen Warnick.

 

Read more about New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original here.

 

On the Ground

New Land Plaza: You Can’t Beat a New York Original is presented as part of On the Ground, a yearlong research project and exhibition series about New York City’s ground floor. Through a close look at the urban typology of the storefront, this expansive endeavor presents newly commissioned artistic explorations and dialogues about the heterogeneous threshold between public and private space throughout 2023. The project will unfold through three exhibitions, a radio show, an open call, a public program, and a thematic reader. 

 

Support
Storefront’s On the Ground program is made possible through the support of the Graham Foundation, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the Storefront Circle and Storefront’s Board of Directors, members, and individual donors.

Member’s Event: Tour of with Wardrobe

Saturday April 8, 2023

Pope. L, Roach Motel Black, 1993-95, Performance © Pope.L; 
Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York
 
Saturday April 8, 2023
5pm – 6pm
Abrons Art Center
466 Grand Street, New York NY
 
 
Storefront members are invited to join in a walkthrough with Abrons Curatorial AIRspace Residents 2022-23, Laura Serejo Genes and Kiyoto Koseki, of with Wardrobe, a group exhibition featuring works by CFGNY, Devin Kenny, Erika Ceruzzi, K8 Hardy, Keioui Keijaun, Ken Lum, and Pope. L.
 
Through assemblage and performance, the artists reflect on self-styling as a practice that bridges private and public realms of appearance. Referencing various states of dress, with Wardrobe considers the body as a display mechanism tied to popular culture and global systems of material trade.
 

If you would like to join and are not yet a Storefront member, please sign up here, or contact us at membership@storefrontnews.org.

 

Note to members: This event has limited capacity. Please RSVP by Thursday April 6, 2023

Tomorrow is the Question: Benefit Art Sale

Thursday April 20, 2023 – Saturday April 22, 2023

Benefit Art Sale

 

 

 

Thursday – Saturday, April 20 – 22, 2023

kurimanzutto

520 W 20th St, New York, NY

 

[RSVP]

 

As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, Storefront for Art and Architecture is entering a new phase in which we aim towards building a more solid and stable institution. To this end, we’re launching the Storefront Futures Fund and will be hosting a benefit art sale at kurimanzutto’s recently opened New York gallery in Chelsea from April 20 – April 22, 2023. 

 

Founded by artists in 1982, Storefront has chronicled the changing landscape of cities from its iconic location in Nolita ever since. For the last forty years, we have supported artists and architects with an unflinching commitment to notions of publicness and community. 

 

Inquire about the works available here.

 

See the list of works available here.

 

With works by:

Felipe Baeza

Francisca Benítez

Abraham Cruzvillegas

Danielle Dean

Jonathas de Andrade

Minerva Cuevas

Rafael Domenech

Daqi Fang

Ming Fay 

Miguel Fernández de Castro

Raque Ford

Ignacio Gatica

Liam Gillick

Petrit Halilaj

Federico Herrero

Christian Hincapié

Akira Ikezoe

Alfredo Jaar

David L. Johnson

Jessica Kairé

Anna K.E.

Zoe Leonard

Florian Meisenberg

Jesús “Bubu” Negrón

Christian Nyampeta

Kayode Ojo

Damián Ortega

Jorge Pardo

Nohemí Pérez

Tania Pérez Cordova

Paul Pfeiffer

Wilfredo Prieto

Rose Salane

Shanzhai Lyric

Amie Siegel

Kiki Smith

Do Ho Suh

Rayyane Tabet

Rirkrit Tiravanija

Álvaro Urbano

Lulu Varona

Pae White

Jesse Wine

Anicka Yi

Rosario Zorraquín

 

 

Credits
Graphic Design by Estudio Herrera

 

Support
Storefront is grateful to kurimanzutto and participating artists and galleries for their commitment to independent spaces and generous support in this initiative. Additional support provided by Tequila Casa Dragones, RGNY Wines and Tacos No. 1, and Pinky Swear.

 

 

 

 

 

What Black Is This, You Say? Symposium

Wednesday April 26, 2023

 

 

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

6pm-8:30pm

Great Hall @ Cooper Union

7 E 7th St, New York, NY 

 

[RSVP]

 

 

 

 

In dialogue with What Black Is This, You Say?, the long term public artwork by Chicago-based artist Amanda Williams at Storefront for Art and Architecture, an evening of readings, propositions, conversations, and musings on the plurality, complexity, and nuance of Black experience(s) will be presented on the evening of April 26, 2023. 

 

Organized collaboratively by Storefront and The Cooper Union, this symposium celebrates the forthcoming monograph of Amanda Willams focused specifically on the public nature of her project What Black Is This, You Say?. Featuring an inter-generational group of artists, writers, scholars, thought leaders, and musicians, this event gathers them for an evening of creative exchange around the stakes, questions, and new horizons that Williams’ project puts forth. 

 

Please join us for a reading by New York Times culture writer J Wortham, a keynote lecture by Andres L. Hernandez, a panel amongst Williams, Deana Haggag, Justin Garrett Moore, and Mabel O. Wilson. As well as a special sonic performance by singer, songwriter, and poet Jamila Woods.

 

RSVP for this event here.

 

Note: Visitors must show security proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test by a third party (not home test) within three days of their visit to campus or a negative rapid test result taken by a third party (not home test) on the day of the visit to campus.

 

Symposium Program

6:00pm Doors Open

7:00pm Welcome by Cooper & Storefront 

7:10pm What Black Is This, You Say? Introduction by Camille Bacon

7:12pm Keynote by Andres L. Hernandez 

               “mighty/Black walls (the Blackness of blackness)”

7:40pm Reading by J Wortham 

               “NYT Uppercase”

7:45pm Panel with Amanda Williams, Mabel O. Wilson, and Justin Garrett Moore

Moderated by Deana Haggag

8:15pm Musical Performance by Jamila Woods 

8:30pm     Program Closes 

 

About the Participants

Andres L. Hernandez is a Chicago-based artist, designer, and educator who re-imagines the environments we inhabit, and explores the potential of spaces to support creative production, public dialogue, and social action. He is the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s inaugural and current SPACE artist-in-residence at Curie Metropolitan High School, a 2018–19 visiting artist-in-residence with the University of Arizona School of Art, and a 2018 Efroymson Family Fund Contemporary Arts Fellow.

 

Hernandez is a member of the performance collective Dark Adaptive with artists Torkwase Dyson and Zachary Fabri. Hernandez is cofounder of the Revival Arts Collective with Mecca Brooks, Frankie M. Brown, and L. Anton Seals, and founder and director of the Urban Vacancy Research Institute. From 2017 to 2019, he was an exhibition design team member for the Obama Presidential Center Museum, and currently serves as a creative consultant for other public projects and initiatives. Hernandez received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is an Associate Professor.

 

Deana Haggag (she/her) is an arts administrator, cultural worker, executive leader, and strategic advisor. She is currently a Program Officer in Arts and Culture at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation in May 2021, she was the President & CEO of United States Artists, a national arts funding organization based in Chicago, IL. During her tenure, USA saw unprecedented growth, expanding its Fellowship award program, launching the Berresford Prize, and developing coalition efforts to advance support for individual artists most notably including Artist Relief, a $25 million COVID-19 emergency fund, and Disability Futures, a multi-disciplinary initiative supporting disabled creative practitioners. Before joining USA in February 2017, she was the Executive Director of The Contemporary, a nomadic and non-collecting art museum in Baltimore, MD, for four years. 

 

Justin Garrett Moore is the inaugural program officer for the Humanities in Place program at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  His work focuses on advancing equity, inclusion, and social justice through place-based initiatives and programs, built environments, cultural heritage projects, and commemorative spaces and landscapes.  He has extensive experience in architecture, planning, and design—from urban systems, policies, and building projects to grassroots and community-focused planning, design, preservation, public realm, and arts initiatives.

 

With over fifteen years of public service with the City of New York, Mr. Moore has led several urban design and planning projects, including the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront, Hunter’s Point South, and the Brooklyn Cultural District.  From 2016 to 2020, he was the executive director of the New York City Public Design Commission, where he spearheaded initiatives to address social equity and sustainability through improved built environment design and public processes.  His work spanned housing and community development, place and open space design, historic preservation, public art and monuments, and civic engagement.

 

Amanda Williams is a visual artist who trained as an architect. Her creative practice employs color as a way to draw attention to the complexities of how race shapes the ways in which we assign value to space in cities. The landscapes in which she operates are the visual residue of the invisible policies and forces that have misshapen most major US cities. Williams’ installations, paintings, and works on paper seek to inspire new ways of looking at the familiar, and in the process, raise questions about the state of urban space and ownership in America.

 

Amanda has exhibited widely, including the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, a solo exhibition at the MCA Chicago, and a public project with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis. She is a 2018 USA Ford Fellow, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors grantee, an Efroymson Family Arts Fellow, a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and a member of the multidisciplinary Museum Design team for the Obama Presidential Center. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. Williams lives and works in Chicago. Amanda Williams was selected as a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. 

 

Mabel O. Wilson  is the Nancy and George Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, a Professor in African American and African Diasporic Studies, and the Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS) at Columbia University. At GSAPP she co-directs the Global Africa Lab. Wilson joined the faculty of Columbia in 2007 and she has held fulltime and visiting appointments at UC Berkeley, California College of the Arts, Princeton University, Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky. She is trained in Architecture and American Studies, two fields that inform her scholarship, curatorial projects, art works and design projects. Through her transdisciplinary practice Studio &, Wilson makes visible and legible the ways that anti-black racism shapes the built environment along with the ways that blackness creates spaces of imagination, refusal and desire. Her research investigates space, politics and cultural memory in black America; race and modern architecture; new technologies and the social production of space; and visual culture in contemporary art, media and film. 

 

Jamila Woods is a poet and R&B singer. Jamila Woods was born in Chicago and raised on the city’s South Side, in both Washington Park and the suburb Beverly Hills. Woods’s father is a physician, and her mother is a spiritual healer. 

 

Woods graduated from Brown University with a BA in Africana Studies and Theatre and Performance Studies. She has cited Gwendolyn Brooks and Lucille Clifton as poetic influences. In 2012, she published her first chapbook, The Truth About Dolls, which includes a Pushcart Prize-nominated poem about Frida Kahlo. Her poetry has been featured in the anthologies The Uncommon Core: Contemporary Poems for Learning & Living (2013), Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls (2014), and The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (2015).

 

J Wortham (they/them) is a sound healer,, reiki practitioner, herbalist, and community care worker oriented towards healing justice and liberation. J is also a staff writer for  The New York Times Magazine, and co-host of the podcast ‘Still Processing,’ They occasionally publish thoughts on culture, technology and wellness in a newsletter. J is the proud editor of the visual anthology “Black Futures,” a 2020 Editor’s choice by The New York Times Book Review, along with Kimberly Drew, from One World. J is also currently working on a book about the body and dissociation for Penguin Press. J mostly lives and works on stolen Munsee Lenape land, now known as Brooklyn, New York, and is committed to decolonization as a way of life.

 

Support

Storefront would like to thank the support for this program from The Cooper Union and The Cooper Union’s School of Architecture. Storefront’s program is made possible through the support of the Graham Foundation, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the Storefront Circle and Storefront’s Board of Directors, members, and individual donors. Graphic Design for WBITYS? by Polymode.