This Longing Vessel will feature new work by the 2019–20 cohort of the Studio Museum’s foundational residency program, artists E. Jane (b. 1990, Bethesda, MD), Naudline Pierre (b. 1989, Leominster, MA), and Elliot Reed (b. 1992, Milwaukee, WI). With practices spanning new media, performance, and painting, this collaborative exhibition enacts a radical intimacy—a vessel to hold and be held by. In longing, the works shown here find the intersection between queerness and blackness as a waypoint: one to yearn from, to reach toward, to leap beyond. This Longing Vessel troubles and excites ways of seeing, seeking new language for the building of extraordinary futures.
Organized by Legacy Russell, Associate Curator, Exhibitions at The Studio Museum in Harlem; with Yelena Keller, Curatorial Assistant, The Studio Museum in Harlem; and Josephine Graf, Curatorial Assistant, MoMA PS1.
While courses within the Department of Art and Art History were conducted remotely throughout the Fall 2020 semester, faculty and students took advantage of public art spaces and exhibits around New York City as creative influences for their projects.