March 3 – March 6
Curator: Martina Lentino
Artists: Derek Koffi-Ziter and Isabella Wang
How do others’ perceptions influence the way we see ourselves? Through which channels do seemingly disparate thoughts connect, contributing to an inevitably multidimensional state of being? How does the practice of identity formation cope with constant self-reflection and self-criticism? In Independent Research: Perceived Selves artists Isabella Wang and Derek Koffi-Ziter think through these questions in multimedia works that act as explorations of their psyches and lived experiences. Independent Research functions as a snapshot of their respective practices, highlighting self-analysis, introspection, and pluralistic identity as shared conceptual underpinnings.
Isabella Wang’s practice is a constant effort to make sense of the absurd and complex; Through her practice she attempts to parse through spaces, scale, relationships, associations, and perceptions that exist in seemingly disjointed but inextricably interlinked psychological space. In Wang’s work as both a visual artist and a writer, she communicates honestly, centering radical intimacy and vulnerability. With a preference for saturated color, space, and content, Wang divulges in a maximalist fashion, taking the viewer on as a participant in making meaning of non-linearity and personal history. Her recent painting, Ascension, includes details that require close looking, and exemplifies these qualities. Wang paints with uninhibited creativity and in large scale. In its pictorial elements, the painting is intriguing, disturbing, and absurd. In a highly pigmented, abstracted landscape, a female body with no head or arms sensually leans into the image. If she continues, however, she may fall into the screaming, disembodied face that appears out of incomprehensible space. Around the main action, tiny figures engage in different activities, making one question the already impossible image in its scale. Though physical space may be limiting, the depths of the mind are endless; psychological space and ideas do not hold back.
Derek Koffi-Ziter similarly makes to understand their psychological state. Their multimedia oeuvre unfolds over time as an introspective analysis of constructed identity, and as a practice in continued reflection of their self and their life in critical stages. Koffi-Ziter’s work focuses on the experience of having many marginalized identities, and a desire to assert these identities in the creation of agency and self-discovery. For many years, they have photographed others’ manifestations of their identities. In the recent past, however, Koffi-Ziter’s practice has become an introspective exploration of their interiority and their body in space. Their video/performance, Seeking Solace (2020), emphasizes a desire to create without barriers, and to embrace discomfort for the sake of mental and spiritual transformation. Though taking distance from formal religion, the artist’s naked body in nature, and in water, can be read as a self-baptism– as an initiation into new personal understandings, capacities for communication, and individual spiritualities. They invite us to view this intimate moment of subconscious exploration and patient vulnerability.
Independent Research: Perceived Selves places two very formally distinct oeuvres in conversation, aiming to explore what it might mean to research, share, and comprehend oneself.
Download the category entry for Independent Research: Perceived Selves [PDF]