PAST CONVERSATION
Emma Safir, Sally Eaves Hughes, and Ebony L. Haynes
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Curated by:
Date:
PAST CONVERSATION
Emma Safir, Sally Eaves Hughes, and Ebony L. Haynes
To commemorate Emma Safir’s exhibition curated by Sally Eaves Hughes, Baxter St is pleased to host a closing conversation between artist Emma Safir, curator Sally Eaves Hughes, and curator Ebony L. Haynes on Thursday, March 24th, at 7 PM ET. Safir’s show, Glitches & Veils, is on view through March 26th at 126 Baxter St.
Glitches & Veils features works from three of Safir’s recent series, Rewound Glitch, Veils, and Woven Mirrors. Each work begins with a range of instinctive photographs by Safir, including images of windows, fabric, and nature within a domestic context. Scanned and superimposed, the resulting photographic collages are printed on fabric. Safir then employs traditional textile techniques such as weaving, smocking, and upholstery to further abstract, build up, and manipulate the images. In these works, Safir considers the boundless interactions we have with digital interfaces and the assumption and desire that we would have autonomy in the use of our own screens. Questioning society’s obsession with hardness and simplicity, Safir’s panels smock the grid, emphasizing the materiality of the image in an ever-expanding digital landscape.
This exhibition is part of Baxter St’s Guest-Curated Program and is made possible with the support of the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation.
Emma Safir (b. 1990 NYC) is an artist who employs material exploration and manipulation of fabric through weaving techniques, smocking, lens-based media, rasterization, upholstery, among other methods. Her work functions as screen simulations, proxies and portals. Safir is interested in hierarchies of labor, especially in their relationship to gender and digitization. Safir holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Printmaking and an MFA from the Yale School of Art in Painting & Printmaking. She has exhibited recently at SHIN HAUS at Shin Gallery, Lyles & King, Pentimenti Gallery and TW Fine Art. She is currently an Artist in Residence at the Textiles Art Center in Brooklyn, and a participant in the Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program in Manhattan. Safir lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Sally Eaves Hughes is a curator and writer based in New York. Her research focuses on abstraction, materiality, and geo-politics. A 2021–2022 Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow in the Whitney Independent Study Program, Hughes holds a master’s degree in Modern and Contemporary Art: Critical and Curatorial Studies from Columbia University. Her curated exhibitions are Common Space at Oolite Arts, Miami (2021) and Mary Sibande at the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, New York (2019). Recently, she contributed to the development of exhibitions including Carl Craig, Sam Gilliam, and Dorothea Rockburne at Dia Art Foundation as well as Visibility Machines. Harun Farocki and Trevor Paglen and My Barbarian at Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago. Her writing has been published in Art in America, Art Papers, The Brooklyn Rail, and Sculpture Magazine.
Ebony L. Haynes is a writer and curator from Toronto, Canada. She is currently based in New York where she is a director at David Zwirner gallery. Haynes was a recent visiting curator and critic for Yale School of Fine art in the Painting and Printmaking class of 2021. She also runs an online “school” where free professional practice classes are offered to Black students, world wide. Prior to joining David Zwirner, Haynes served as director at Martos Gallery and Shoot The Lobster NY & LA, and was responsible for many critically acclaimed exhibitions including Invisible Man, epigenetic, EBSPLOITATION, and The Worst Witch. Haynes sits on the boards of the New Art Dealers Association, and Cassandra Press. She has participated in numerous public talks and symposiums at various institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum, New York, and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and has contributed her writing to multiple catalogues and publications.