Butterfly In You. Walking Miracle. Living Wonder features 3 bodies of work by artist Lariel Joy, in the second edition of Co-Prosperity Peers, a series of solo exhibitions in the windows initiated by the Co-Prosperity Programming Council.

Joy’s work is on view on the three display windows, along with 3 performances throughout the run of the exhibition, as outlined below. Butterfly In You. Walking Miracle. Living Wonder is curated and cared for by Council member Ed Oh.

Main window:
Butterfly In You. Walking Miracle. Living Wonder is a decolonization ritual of metamorphosis. It is a proclamation that if one has survived trauma and colonization, one is a walking miracle and living wonder, like a butterfly. It is also an homage to the generations of work that goes into resolving collective traumas.

“When my grandmother passed away, the severity of the erasure hit me, and I realized that my very body is her monument, that which remains of her that commemorates her. My grandmother’s job was to stay alive in the midst of war and poverty. My job was to give voice, loudly and clearly, let go, forgive, inscribe and celebrate. I enter the cocoon with the hopes to be liberated from myself, that when I emerge, I won’t have to make work that centers around my identity. Also with the hopes that my people will look after our collective PTSD. Although my identity will always be a part of me, as the caterpillar is still present within the butterfly, I dream of an intrinsically different alternative ascent, that which does not assimilate, deform, or distort who I am. I AM HERE.” — Lariel Joy

Two side windows:
Remnants & video documentations of two performances from New Wxman Inscriptions series are exhibited. New Wxman Inscriptions, along with the decolonization hand signals used in the “Butterfly In You. Walking Miracle. Living Wonder” performances, are Lariel’s attempt at excavating the vaginologos. The New Wxman Inscriptions performance series is inspired by Helene Cixous’ utterances that women must inscribe her self, and inscribe her self with her body.

New Wxman Inscriptions #2: Epistolary (with Sandra Shim)

: The performers write letters to important women of their lives using their bodies as tools, surfaces and movements for inscription.

New Wxman Inscriptions #4: Diaspora (with Mi Jin Park)

: Two diasporic artists Lariel Joy, who studied traditional Korean garment (hanbok) making, and Gloria Jue-yeon Han, who studied traditional Korean ceramic art, collaborate with Mi Jin Park, whose life is also symptomatic of the diaspora, to create “New Wxman Inscriptions #4: Diaspora.” “I observe tradition and I break it.” Here, the female bodies, who were the laborers and careers for traditions, but not the writers and owners of tradition, break and re-write the tradition.

SCHEDULE
Opening: March 14th, 7pm-10pm
8-8:45pm: “Butterfly In You” Opening performance
Sign up here to participate in the performance:
https://forms.gle/fsQvf4czYA2ofi9U6
Or just show up to experience the performance as an
audience member.

7-10pm: One-night screening of the performance video
series “Experiments in Exile”

March 20th, *(time TBA) – In collaboration with the opening of Slaysian
“Walking Miracle” performance presentation
Sign up here to participate in the performance:
https://forms.gle/U4wQUWjjwJVADa1v6

Or just show up to experience the performance as an
audience member

Closing: March 24th, 7pm-12am
7:30pm: “Living Wonder” performance presentation
8:30pm-12am: Decolonization Transmission Party

Official Website

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Tags: Bridgeport, Butterfly In You. Walking Miracle. Living Wonder, Chicago, Co-Prosperity Peers, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Lariel Joy