REEF Residents Present Readings and Open Studios

The REEF residents open their doors to the public this weekend.

CalArtians Rosa Boshier (Critical Studies MFA 18) and Alyssa Manansala (Critical Studies MFA 18) present the reading REFILL: Exercises in Decolonial Ekphrasis on Sunday (April 28) at The REEF studios in Los Angeles. Boshier and Manasala will host the reading as part of the OBJECTS I CARRY: REEF Residency Open Studios + Mid-Residency Group Show.

The CalArts REEF residency is awarded to two students each from the School of Art and School of Critical Studies, and encourages its recipients to propose their own events, symposia and exhibitions during their tenure. The residency is offered to recent graduates of both schools’ MFA programs, including Art, Art and Technology, Graphic Design, Photo/Media, the MA Aesthetics and Politics Program and the MFA Creative Writing Program.

Sunday’s reading event features writers Cynthia Velasquez (Critical Studies MFA 18), Angel Dominguez, B.A. Williams, Christine Imperial, Maryam Kazeem and the hosts. The event will also feature work by artists Aydinaneth Ortiz, Karla Canseco and Christal Perez. The reading and exhibition also serves to announce the mid-residency showcase’s accompanying publication, REFILL: An Anthology in Decolonial Ekphrasis.

Ekphrasis is the Greek poetry tradition of textually defining visual arts and further engaging the sociopolitical contexts underscoring the artwork’s creation, as well as the poet’s relationship to the artwork and the artist themselves. Boshier and Manansala consider ekphrasis a writing form with the potential to question the colonial histories and relationships involved into the artwork’s creation. The hosts coined and defined the phrase “decolonial ekphrasis” as a framework for “viewing and [re]interpreting art, culture, and theory through a decolonial lens, engaging with reverberating colonial traumas, toward a productive haunting, healing, empowerment, and artmaking.”

REFILL: Exercises in Decolonial Ekphrasis is just one of the events happening this weekend as part of OBJECTS I CARRY, which marks the first half of the 2019 REEF residency. On Saturday at 5 pm, there’s a reading by Jinal Sangoi (Art MFA 18). On Sunday (April 28) from 4-6 pm, the artists open their 7th floor studios to the public, preceding the opening reception and the REFILL reading at 7 pm.

All events are free, but RSVPs are required. See below for event details.