“State of the Nation” Gallery Artist Talk

The Old Stone House & Washington Park (OSH) in partnership with Ma's House & BIPOC Art Studio is pleased to host "State of the Nation: A BIPOC Artist Perspective," curated by Jeremy Dennis. This exhibit is on view August 18 - October 6, 2024.

Join us as several of the artists exhibiting in "State of the Nation" give talks to accompany the visual art on display.

Christine Stoddard is a Salvadoran-American writer, artist, and performer named one of Brooklyn Magazine’s Top 50 Most Fascinating People. A Ms. Magazine “Ms. Muse” and Miss Subways Finalist, she founded Quail Bell Press & Productions, including Quail Bell Magazine. Her most recent solo exhibition was at the Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing. Her visual art and films have been shown widely. at Jamaica Center for Art & Learning, the Poe Museum, Pratt Institute, Cinema Village, the Latino Film Market, the Belskie Museum, the New York Transit Museum, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, and beyond. Her work has been supported by Arts By the People, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Chashama, Support Creativity, the Puffin Foundation, ArtBridge, IndieSpace, the Hudson Valley Writers Center, Arts Gowanus, and other fine organizations. A current MS Documentary Film candidate at Columbia University, she earned her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from The City College of New York. As of 2024, she is the curator-in-residence at AnkhLave Arts Alliance on Governors Island. YouTube/IG/FB/TikTok @StoddardSays; WorldOfChristineStoddard.com

gino romero (b. 1997 in Miami, Florida) holds an MFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design and a BA in Studio Art from Florida State University. They are an ordained minister, an archivist, an educator, and they consider growing up Queer and Trans in predominantly Latinx spaces as part of their education. Their work has been exhibited nationally at venues, including Phyllis Strauss Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts (Tallahassee), 621 Gallery, Also Gallery, Grace Exhibition Space, SoMad Gallery, Rosekill Art Farm, and Arnold and Sheila Aronson Gallery. Their work is part of the collections at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cornell University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, University of Southern California (USC), among others.

Chinese Artists and Organizers (CAO) Collective 离离草 creates art to empower relational community healing. They make space for nuanced narratives rooted in China, the Sinophone diaspora, and other experiences from the margins. As cultural organizers, they explore social justice-oriented theorizing and narrativizing through communal and processual art practices. Their interdisciplinary praxis interweaves collective poetry, performance, food art, clay, photography, sound, video, children’s games, meditation, herbal medicine, and installation. Their works investigate systems of discipline, control, censorship, and capitalist extraction and reimagine memory/memorials, rituals, intimacy, and queer/feminist kinship to (re)build sustainable community infrastructures. They explore the idea of languaging as a moving and fluid site, a contact zone for improvisation.

CAO Collective is a 2023-24 resident at BRICLab: Contemporary Art cohort and was a collaborator with Laura Li in Pedantic Arts Residency (2024, Pittsburgh, PA) and Feminist Incubator Residency at Project for Empty Space (2022-23, Newark, NJ).

Curatorial Statement

"State of The Nation: A BIPOC Artist Perspective" delves into the intricate relationship between politics, social justice and healing through the lens of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) artists. This exhibition underscores the transformative power of art in catalyzing change within our communities.

In an era marked by political turbulence, especially during an election year, this show explores how artists act as activists, using their work to comment on and critique the current political climate. It examines the dual nature of art—both as a symbolic gesture and as a form of direct action—emphasizing its role in sparking dialogue and inspiring activism. The exhibition also addresses the politics of representation, particularly how objects in museums reflect identity and culture, and how implementing cultural traditions into political dialogue can reshape these narratives.

Hosted in the Park Slope/Gowanus area of Brooklyn at the Old Stone House, the exhibition highlights how artists confront issues of housing, land rights and the creation of safe, inclusive communities. It navigates the complexities of politics, questioning who steps up to advocate for the community's well-being and how grassroots efforts can instigate broader change. "State of The Nation" celebrates artists who present their work as a form of public service, honoring those dedicated to the betterment of their communities.

Ma's House & BIPOC Art Studio, Inc., founded as a grassroots art space, embodies this philosophy, illustrating the potent intersection of art and activism in the pursuit of social justice and community empowerment. The exhibition also ties into the Old Stone House's revolutionary history. A reconstructed Dutch colonial farmhouse and the site of the 1776 Revolutionary War Battle of Brooklyn, the Old Stone House is also at the crossroads of ancient Lenape roads, adjacent to the historic town of Marechkawick and we acknowledge this land’s original inhabitants.

Exhibiting artists

Zakariya Abdul-Qadir, Cali M. Banks, Lisa Brown, William PK Carter, Chinese Artists and Organizers (CAO) Collective, Arris' J. Cohen (Sir'ra), Daija Essien, Jenie Gao, Noel Maghathe, Brenda Noiseux, T. Willie Raney, Gino Romero, Christine Stoddard, Joanna Tam and Delia Touché.

About the Curator

Jeremy Dennis (b. 1990) is a contemporary fine art photographer, an enrolled Tribal Member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, New York, and lead artist and founder of the non-profit Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, Inc. on the Shinnecock Reservation. In his work, he explores Indigenous identity, culture, and assimilation.

Host or Publisher Old Stone House & Washington Park