The Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is proud to present Queer Ecology Hanky Project, an exhibition of 90 artist bandanas from across North America, from Vancouver to Mexico City, organized by Vanessa Adams and Mary Tremonte. Seventeen of the artists are based in Pittsburgh.
Queer Ecology Hanky Project opens on Friday, February 7th, 2020 with a reception from 6:00 - 10:00 PM. The show will be up through March 6th, 2020, with a closing reception. Gallery Hours will be on Sundays from 1-5 pm. Irma Freeman Center for Imagination is located on 5006 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224.
Queer Craft show February 9th &
Sappho Situation HankyCode DANCE PARTY! February 15th!
Relief Printing Workshop Sunday February 16th 2 -5 pm
Gallery Hours Sundays 1 - 5 pm or by appointment
This exhibition will showcase a diverse array of artist responses to Queer Ecology—an area of inquiry which unites the study of biology, environment, and sexuality with a framework of queer theory--and a wide spectrum of print mediums and methods. This is the first complete exhibit of the Queer Ecology Hanky Project, with a soft opening of most of the artists taking place in October 2019, at the White Page Gallery in Minneapolis.
Queer Ecology Hanky Project has given us windows into divergent possibilities for gender and sexuality, models of resilience and resistance in a world that feels increasingly bleak. In recent years, queers of all genders and proclivities have expanded the definitions of the original gay hanky code—which emerged in the United States in the early 1970s, as a means for gay men to subtly communicate sexual desires—to include different bodies, identities, and activities.
This show originates from a love of designing, printing, and distributing bandanas as wearable artwork, and a means to continue a queer communication of flagging, of finding affinity with plants, animals, mycelia, and each other.
Queer Ecology Hanky Project is full of artwork intended for activation - artist bandanas that will hopefully accompany walks in the woods, accessorize outfits at queer dance parties, bundle up foraged mushrooms, and start conversations. All work is created in editions of 20 or more, and is available for sale at the exhibition. In that spirit, as part of the exhibition, there will be a hanky code dance party, Sappho: Hanky Situation, on Saturday February 15, from 7-11 pm and an artist market for artists involved in the Queer Ecology Hanky Project and local queer artists on Sunday, February 9, from 12-5pm. All programming takes place at the Irma Freeman Center.
The Queer Ecology Hanky Project is: Vanessa Adams, Dana Aleshire, Finley Baker, Kat/Luca Bartlow, Douglas Baulos, Chris Bernstein, Amanda Blix, Aja Rose Bond, Natasha Brennan, Jim Bullard, Eli Campanaro & Heather Douglas, Devon Cohen, Jen Cooney, Molly Costello, Amy V Cousins, J. Avery Theodore Daisey, Alek de Dóchas, Jessika Fancy/ Jfancydesigns, Femme Prints, Zeph Fishlyn, Kerri Flannigan, Pidge Fletching, Keith Foster, Lindsey french and Willy Smart, Clement Hil Goldberg, Mia Greenwald, Jacq Groves, Ian Hanesworth, L. Hartsock, Eriko Hattori, E Henderson, Tristan Higginbotham, Eli Howey, Hana Jimenez (A Visceral Boy), Katie Kaplan, Devon Kelley-Yurdin, Karey Kenst & Mel Hardy, Rowan Leek, Levi (2headedcoralsnake), Sam Loewen, Selena Loomis, Ayden Love, alyx rene lunada, Soren Lundi, drea marcos, Georgia McCandlish, Chemlawn/Sarah McDermott, Kate McNeely and Jason Patten, Bekezela Mguni, A-B Moore, Kate Morales, Mary Murph, Andrea Narno, Celeste Neuhaus, Lex Non Scripta, Zackary Petot, em pike, Nevena Pilipovic-Wengler & Milica Bogetić, Catherine Please, Claire Ragland, A. Reid, Jenna Reid, syr reifsteck, Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes, Rigel Richardson, Nora Rickey, Quinn Rivenburgh, Rev. Matta Ghaly and Quinn Rivenburgh, Avery Rose, Erin Roussel, E.T. Russian, Lucy Satzewich, August Schultz, Nick Shick, H Simon, Marta Syrup, Corinne Teed, Trash Tmblweed, Frankie Toan and Émilie Mulcahey, Amalia Kalisz Tonsor, Mary Tremonte, Anna Wagner, Blue Wallick, Vivien Wise, Summer Wood & Meg Houston, Natalie Woodlock, and Jon Woolley. It is organized by Mary Tremonte and Vanessa Adams.
For more information and interviews contact:
Vanessa Adams & Mary Tremonte hankyexhibit@gmail.com
For tours and gallery appointments contact: Sheila Ali sheiladali@irmafreeman.org