PAST EXHIBITION

A Sequence for Squeezing

Naima Green

Baxter St is proud to present A Sequence for Squeezing, a solo show of lens-based work by 2021 Baxter St Workspace Resident Naima Green. Featuring new and recent photographs, as well as a recent video work, the exhibition continues Green’s practice of collaborating with her community to create intimate portraits and record personal scenes of play, exploration, and pleasure. Focusing on the experiences of Black, Brown, and Queer individuals, the exhibition builds on and expands the themes of Green’s previous work, exploring water as a site for pleasure and freedom, the sensuality of enjoying food, and the rituals of intimacy. A Sequence for Squeezing will be on view at Baxter St from June 15 through July 23, 2022. 

ONLINE VIEWING ROOM EXHIBITION ➞

Over the past few years, Green has become one of the most important documentarians of Black, Brown, and Queer pleasure in the United States. A Sequence for Squeezing is centered around two new sequences of photographs in which Green turns her camera toward solitary moments of pleasure and relief. In one sequence, Green’s friend meticulously peels a boiled egg, leaving bits of the shell on a tray framed by her legs, illuminated by sunlight. In the other sequence, the viewer sees Green’s partner squat and urinate in a desert landscape, with the final image including the feet of both the photographer and her partner. Each photograph in both sequences is carefully cropped, heightening the feeling of voyeurism as the viewer becomes witness to these private acts of pleasure and relief. Most of Green’s sitters are close friends who have appeared in her work multiple times, and who she views as collaborators in her practice. Interested in observing how her friends experience and perform pleasure, the photographer’s latest work captures the tactility and decadence of eating slowly – peeling an egg, squeezing a grapefruit – and the idea of communing with food through ritual. 

A Sequence for Squeezing also reflects Green’s growing interest in rhizomatic theory and the notion that there are multiple entry points into interpretation. In her new work, she explores this through both sequencing, where one scene is extracted into many, and double-exposure, where many moments are overlaid onto one image. “Over the past two years, I’ve become interested in double-exposure as a means of capturing things that can’t be held in just one way. Sequencing and double-exposure – as well as my use of Polaroids – has really allowed me to play with loosening the narrative and letting go of some control, something I’ve always wanted to explore as someone who is usually more of a Type A photographer. My residency at Baxter St gave me the time and space to experiment with these techniques which are newer to my practice.”