All of Living is Risk

Exhibition co-curated with Rikki Byrd at the South Side Community Art Center

Artists: Cory Perry and Nnaemeka Ekwelum

Exhibition Page

All of Living is Risk (2nd floor Cortor Gallery) brings together works by Cory Perry (b. 1989, Fayetteville, Arkansas) and Nnaemeka C. Ekwelum (b. 1990, Boston). Drawing on Afrodiasporic textile practices of quilting and weaving, respectively, Perry and Ekwelum explore the juxtaposition of Black queer grief, joy, and belonging. Combining second-hand textiles and deconstructed clothing objects given to them by Black queer people whose voices have been underrepresented across the South – and specifically in their hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas – Perry pays homage to the region’s traditions of quilting. Strung along and suspended from string, Perry’s installation recalls a clothesline. They critically engage quotidian and gendered gestures of homemaking to reflect on the ways that queer people in the South build relationships and foster collectivity, despite the ruptures and ephemerality of these spaces caused by harmful societal reactions attempting to stifle their existence.

Ekwelum creates grief cloths using a West African upright loom inspired by Nigerian “abata” cloths, which are used to honor the dead during funerals. The artist extends the intent of these cloths as an archive of feeling to consider his life as a Black queer American-born, Nigerian person. Combining weaving, sculpture, and installation, found and purchased art materials, Ekwelum’s practice puts pressure on and blurs the antiquated delineation between craft and fine art. Central to his artistic materials is a plastic lacing known as “gimp.” Often considered a tool for creative experimentation for children, the artist uses it to represent his “inner child work.” In this exhibition and others, Ekwelum “moves according to feeling,” sculpting each cloth in response to gallery architecture, exhibition themes, and history of location. Perry and Ekwelum engage textiles and found objects as conduits for histories imbued with personal memories, delving into the interiority of Black queer life. They meditate on what cannot be immediately “seen” or “known”, and imagine possibilities for healing while creating spaces for living through joy and collective care.

Visitors are invited to gently move their bodies through Perry’s installation and closely observe Ekwelum’s cloths, inspiring the beauty of wonderment. Please honor their practices while being respectful and careful with their work. This exhibition is titled after scholar Kevin Quashie’s reflection in his essay “Queer. Caribbean. Miami. Boy: A Personal Geography”: “The truth is, all of living is risk, sometimes more so because of one’s age, gender, race, but all of living is deep risk.”

It is organized by independent curators Gervais Marsh and Rikki Byrd with support by the South Side Community Art Center, Art Noir Jar of Love Fund, and the Black Arts Consortium at Northwestern University.