HOLDING SPACE

In the heat of the uprising after George Floyd’s murder, HAIR+NAILS invited Cameron Downey to curate a program of young, Black, queer art. Too soon in the Covid-19 pandemic to gather inside, too urgent a moment to wait, the gallery for the first time deploys the public, street-facing, outdoor space of the HAIR+NAILS storefront widows and frontyard to mount massive projections and screenings of video and still image by Cameron Downey, Namir Fearce, Autticus Bell and Java Jones. After the July 25th event, the video program will continue, and evolve, in the HAIR+NAILS sculpture garden. 

In artist/curator Cameron Downey’s words: “Incubation of lasting change seldom comes about without radical hope, radical inspiration. This event exists in the midst of because of and for the revolutionary actions that hold Minneapolis close. There is no more exigent a time for tender, visionary, black, queer art than this moment”.

HOLDING SPACE premiered on Thursday, June 11 with an expanded program including live music by Yonci Jameson, Miles Jameson and Yasmeenah. The 10-week run will run concurrently with Joe Sinness—SCENES + Daniel Luedtke—RESULTS opening in the indoor gallery July 25, 2020.
 

Guest Curator/Artist bio:
Cameron Downey is a current undergraduate at Columbia University, concentrating in fields of Environmental Science and Visual Arts. Her work spans across mediums in an exploration of the ways in which blackness manufactures and occupies technologies of remembrance, recreation, altar-ship and expanse. She uses body prints, hypotheses, film and sculpture. Questions of concern surround what constitutes the archival of something designed to be impermanent, what are the implications then on the people existing in these incomplete worlds? Cameron looks to assign some semblance of immediacy to said transient questions.

Links:

Cameron Downey: www.instagram.com/killkamdow
Namir Fearce: www.instagram.com/blu_bone
Autticus K Bell: www.instagram.com/autticus
Java Jones: www.instagram.com/001.jav

Schedule
Fridays and Saturdays, June 19 - July 25, 2020. 9:00-10:00pm with continuing screenings in the backyard sculpture garden July 25 - August 22, 2020 during open gallery hours and by appointment.

Covid-19 Safety Statement
  HOLDING SPACE is an outdoor event. We ask all to wear masks and social distance. Masks and hand sanitizing stations are provided by the gallery.
 

Image Credit: still from Hymn of Dust (2018) by Cameron Downey (w/ collaborators Cooper Felien, Izzy Commers, booboo) video, audio. 11 minutes.