From the end of February to the beginning of March, The Linfield Art Gallery hosted the “Earth & Place/Roots & Movement” exhibition created by Jess X Snow and Kill Joy. The art within the show combined each of their distinct art styles to create a vibrant and dynamic gallery space and a powerful message of anti-hate and freedom.
Kill Joy is a Filipino American artist whose art style uses thick black lines. Within the art gallery, she has created large red flowers inscribed with the words “resistance,” “land,” “intifada,” and “struggle” as part of the Palestinian liberation piece. As well as larger-than-life hands that are flying a giant kite. This piece included an altar that had a variety of zines and short books as well as small sticky notes in the shape of kites to allow visitors to add the wall with their own words and thoughts for Palestine.
Kill Joy has also filled the gallery with posters that share a variety of messages about resistance and calling for the end of oppressive acts and environmental injustice. The prints come in many sizes and colors, each presenting their ideas in different ways.
Jess X Snow is an Asian queer artist, poet and filmmaker, all of which were exhibited at the gallery. Snow’s art uses vibrant colors to create murals and prints that combine the beauty of nature and the beauty of human beings. Many of their pieces within the space were once or still are painted on walls and buildings, and like Kill Joy’s posters these pieces include messages calling for social justice. Their art also contributed to the large Palestinian liberation piece, by using their unique style to paint the multicolored kites onto the wall.
Within the gallery, Snow also has a multimedia piece that combines several of their murals, a poem, and a short film. These pieces all call for an end to racism and violence against people of color. Both the short film and one of the murals Snow states, “In the future our Asian community is safe.” The pieces are a call to action and hope for the future.
This exhibition is a beautiful and powerful art installation that shares diverse perspectives and struggles, both from America and abroad.
If you are interested in more Linfield Art Exhibitions, on March 20 the Linfield Art Gallery opened its new exhibition “Connected to the Land,” by photographer Leland Butler. The exhibition will then be open until May 3, so be sure to check it out.