FAMILY ROOM
January 29–May 15, 2021
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Tami Abts, Tigre Bailando, Nikesha Breeze, C. Alex Clark, Adrian Coffey, sheri crider, Andrea Deléon, Erika Diamond, Tilke Elkins, Pascal Emmer, Kyle Farrell, Niomi (Moss) Fawn, Alex Krales, c marquez, Nate Masse, Earl Mcbride, Jacks McNamara, Katie Morales, JQ Nightshade, Ravenna Osgood, Saints Ball, Santa Fe Playhouse, Jenn Shapland, Eli Smith, Martín Wannman, Chelsea Weathers, Obie Weathers, Doreen Wittenbols, Anastasio Wrobel
YOU ARE HOME: FOUND FAMILY IN QUEER LIFE
(January 2021) form & concept is proud to announce Family Room, a group exhibition and immersive installation designed by a national consortium of LGBTQ+ artists and performers. This functional and modular living room, featuring art, craft and design objects that were made, altered or found by the featured artists, is a stage for visual artworks and performances that examine queer domestic space and the chosen family. Following the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, Family Room situates never-before-exhibited work by contemporary artists alongside personal artifacts of queer love and connection, including written correspondence between an artist and a queer inmate on death row, functional furniture culled from an artist’s home, and handmade books and zines, as well as site-specific and commissioned performances by New Mexico-based ensembles Saints Ball and Santa Fe Playhouse. A virtual Round Table Discussion with select participating artists will be held on opening day, Friday, January 29 at 12pm (MT) and on Sat. Jan. 30 at 2pm (MT). Other virtual performances and events will be announced throughout the course of the exhibition at formandconcept.center.
Asked to explore the significant impact and necessity of the chosen family, over two dozen emerging and established artists responded with objects of necessity, survival and solace. In this immersive installation, the deeply personal and insular hardships and triumphs of the queer community are represented collectively, from the clever and celebratory, such as C Alex Clark’s throw pillows emblazoned with quotes by queer writers, to the contemplative and conceptual, such as c marquez’s interactive wall installation comprised of imperfect tumble mustard plant stalks meant to wear down and change under the weight of visitors’ hands. Also included is digitally-drawn wallpaper that traces the branches and buds of a family tree and a hand-quilted blanket that figuratively and literally supports its wearer with a fiber spine, made by New Mexico School for the Arts alumni Ravenna Osgood and Eli Smith, respectively.
“This show was supposed to open last June, and we postponed when the pandemic hit in March,” says Director Jordan Eddy. “The extra time expanded the artist list, and shifted the show’s themes in surprising ways. There are conceptual threads about sanctuary, solitude and reconnecting with nature that didn’t exist before.” Indeed, the ambitious yet cozy exhibition is particularly poignant during a time of global isolation in which many queer people have become untethered from their chosen families and communities. At its core, Family Room is in many ways the sum of the visitor’s first entry point: a woven rug by Erika Diamond, known for her series of bulletproof vests made in response to the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, adorned with the word “HOME.”
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For press or image enquiries, please email Marissa Fassano or call (505) 780-8312 x1002.
