Opening Celebration: Asparagus by Lark Chang-Yeh at Water Closet Gallery
About this Event
Opening Celebration: Asparagus by Lark Chang-Yeh
San Francisco-based artist Lark Chang-Yeh collaborates with curator Kate Ortega and trans-owned and operated noise shack and gallery Bric-A-Brac on their first solo show, Asparagus. The show takes place in a fully functional bathroom and DIY gallery space called Water Closet. While much of trans discourse centers on gendered bathroom politics and the policing of who can pee where, Asparagus pays homage to the underground trans knowledge exchange, which has taught many trans masculine people how to stand to pee, grow their T-dick, pack, and experience pleasure. Asparagus doesn’t take itself too seriously; it is an experimental invention that pushes the button of white wall gallery spaces into spaces that are public, contested, and filthy.
Asparagus takes after one of Lark’s favorite pieces of media, Suzan Pitt’s hand-drawn 1978 animated short film of the same name. Around the film's two-minute mark, Pitt’s protagonist poops out a large, phallic asparagus, which lands in the toilet, eventually creating the film’s title sequence “Asparagus.” Pitt describes her inspiration behind her 1978 film, “I had a garden where I grew Asparagus from seed - it’s a very primitive vegetable going back to the time of the dinosaurs. It comes out of the ground as a phallic stalk, pointy and purple green, the essence of a beautiful masculine form. But then, as summer passes, it stretches tall and becomes a delicate fern, seen on roadsides, tilting in the wind, the essence of the feminine like long strands of tangled hair in the breeze. I thought of it as a beautiful symbol of sexuality.”
In Lark’s Water Closet show, asparagus serves as an emblem of a T-dick, a counter-hegemonic body part that grows through taking hormones, whether prescribed or DIY’d. Lark transforms the bathroom with a stop-motion animation projected into the toilet bowl to create an immersive peeing experience. Lark explores what they call the International Dick Trade through a wheatpasted collage documenting the sale and trade of packers and STPs (Stand to Pees) on a subreddit. Certain brands of these prosthetics, such as the reliable Grammas Sausages, go for upwards of $200, with price variations depending on whether or not there are floating realistic testicles, moving foreskin, etc. Underground networks on Reddit and within tight-knit community spaces act as mediums for building and sharing knowledge…and well, prosthetic dicks.
Some of these groups, such as R/GrowyourTdick, reappropriate cis penile enlargement methods to trans dicks. While some of these groups and methods reinforce cis-normative body expectations onto trans people, Lark’s Asparagus is a playful celebration of the expansive nature of transhood across all bodies and the communities that build upon the ever-evolving technology and knowledge that make peeing both functional and an act of rebellion.
Trans curator/artist team Kate Ortega and Lark Chang-Yeh are excited to celebrate the opening of Asparagus on Thursday, July 9th, from 6-8 pm at 178 Leland Ave, San Francisco. Light bites of grilled asparagus will be served. They invite guests to dress accordingly with lush, verdant stalks of asparagus in mind.
Agenda
🕑: 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Grilled Asparagus served
🕑: 07:00 PM - 07:30 PM
Artist Remarks
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00
