REEF Residency: Persistence & Rupture, a Virtual Reading and Chapbook Launch

2021 REEF residents Sarah Sophia Yanni (Critical Studies MFA 20) and Christine Imperial (Critical Studies MFA 20), host two events this weekend (Nov. 12-13) to celebrate their residency project, Persistence & Rupture, with a virtual reading on Friday and a chapbook launch and gallery show on Saturday.

The artists’ geographic origins—the Philippines for Imperial and Mexico for Yanni—influenced the work, which finds mutual ground in their cultural and familial histories.

From the artists’ statement:

We plan to interrogate these two nations’ ongoing trade relationship, whose origins lie in the Spanish-controlled Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, as well as the ways in which colonialism results in a shared sense of cultural loss. Finally, we seek to explore how the actualization of friendships between two past colonies protests its colonial origins through the formation of language and community foreign to the colonizer.

The project also features work by CalArtians Fía Benitez (Art MFA 21) and Rosa Evangelina (Music, Critical Studies MFA 22) along with Hari Alluri, Christiana Castillo, Sonya Lara and Jason Magabo Perez.

The virtual reading takes place on Friday, Nov. 12 at 6:30 pm PST; RSVPs are required for the Zoom link. The gallery opening takes place in person in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 8 pm. If you can’t make either event, sign up for an in-person gallery visit through Nov. 22.

The CalArts REEF Residencies launched in 2015, allowing recent graduates from the schools of Art and Critical Studies to apply for cost-free shared studio space in which to work and a small grant award to support their work over the residency period. Applications for the 2022 REEF Residencies close on Nov. 19.