We’ve Been Among You | Juicebox Burton and Maya Pen (SF)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

May 20-July 1, 2023; typically Tuesday – Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00 PM and by chance or appointment

Southern Exposure is thrilled to present We’ve Been Among You, an exhibition of newly commissioned work by New Orleans-based artists Juicebox Burton and Maya Pen, curated by Ricki Dwyer and Aay Preston-Myint. Centering around the narrative of an extra-terrestrial species living on earth and publicly revealing their true nature for the first time, this multi-sensory immersive installation turns the lens back on the human condition and the trappings of a life removed from our inherent wisdom. Juicebox Burton and Maya Pen’s collaborative exhibition is a love letter to the aliens among us and opens May 20-July 1, 2023.

We’ve Been Among You draws on stories of creature encounters to celebrate those whose cultural practices, ways of loving, and systems of care have always been here holding all of us up. Photographic, video, sculptural, and installation works of these creatures tell the story of a species living in tandem with their planet, reclaiming what was once lost to ecological devastation. Burton and Pen’s otherworldly visitors point to practices coming from a long legacy of Black and Indigenous cooperation to demonstrate what a culture of true cooperativism could look like.

Juicebox P. Burton (she/her) is a black, trans-fem multi-disciplinary artist living in New Orleans. She is a world-builder who frames narratives of trauma in the context of horror and sci-fi in order to heal the collective spirit of the black community. Her work gains its power from its self-taught nature, fostering the collaboration of other creators of color/Black creators whose collective story combats the aristocratic gatekeeping of the mainstream art industry.

Maya Pen Raquel is a self taught artist from the Philadelphia area, based currently in New Orleans, LA. She works across various mediums, including performance art, special effects, mask-making and puppetry, theater creation, installation arts, music, creative writing, and film.

Presented by Southern Exposure

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