Glasshouse is thrilled to host
And I Always Will...
Film Screening, Artist Talk, and Workshop
BY KERRY DOWNEY
For this first ever public screening of their video And I Always Will…(1993-present), artist Kerry Downey will present their work in progress, followed by a discussion and short workshop. Participants are invited to bring old letters or papers in need of alchemical transformation.
Downey’s interdisciplinary video reworks materials from their high school archives—love letters, photos, audio/video, and ephemera. As a queer teenager of the ‘90s, Downey carefully archived all their handmade, intimate exchanges. They revisit their juvenalia through performances with air, water, fire, earth, and through a myriad of collaborative gestures. While Downey uses all the creative resources at their disposal, their laborious and absurd commitment to transformation produces a paradoxical reenactment of anxiety of loss. Their alchemy is not a ritual of purification, but a rabbit hole where you might end up somewhere not unlike where you started.
This project has been awarded support from the New York State Council of the Arts and Glasshouse Project. Collaborators include their partner Erika Bernabei, first girlfriend Rachel Slusarcyzk Harper, therapist Kathleen Miller, videographer Niknaz Tavakolian, paper maker Mina Takahashi, and many more.
Kerry Downey is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Kingston, New York. Recent solo shows were at Underdonk and the Bureau of General Services / Queer Division (New York, NY). They have also exhibited at the Bard CCS / Hessel Museum (Annandale, NY); Queens Museum (Flushing, NY); Leslie Lohman Museum of Art (New York, NY); Knockdown Center (Maspeth, NY); Kate Werble (New York, NY); and University of Arizona Museum of Art (Tucson, AZ). Downey is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant and New York State Council on the Arts Grant. Their work has been in Artforum and The Washington Post. Downey holds a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Hunter College. They are currently a Visiting Professor at Hamilton College. www.kerrydowney.com