unfinished (2022)

“unfinished” was a curatorial statement that I wrote for New Prints 2022/Winter at Print Center New York (formerly International Print Center of New York), an exhibition that I co-curated with David Kim and Nafis M. White. The statement described our approach, which included “actual works-in-progress, abandoned work, failed work, and work that is simply unfinished due to the myriad aspects and conditions artists experience while living and working during crisis—the radical turbulence of racial injustice, police brutality, class inequity, global pandemic, and climate emergency.”

“Capitalism rewards perfection—as defined by those in power. This is especially true in the art world, where the demand for smooth resolution and predictability creates unsustainable standards for who or what is allowed to be considered “successful.” Too often, artists are judged along values centered on heteronormativity and white supremacy: easily reproducible results, collectability, exceptionalism, and the illusion of meritocracy. New Prints 2022/Winter steps away from traditions of polish and perfection by making space for incompleteness, rawness, messiness, illegibility, risk, vulnerability, non-linearity, care, queerness, and non-normativity. Within the loose theme of unfinished, we push up against capitalism’s relentless drive towards market-based success by making way for other kinds of stories. New Prints 2022/Winter includes actual works-in-progress, abandoned work, failed work, and work that is simply unfinished due to the myriad aspects and conditions artists experience while living and working during crisis—the radical turbulence of racial injustice, police brutality, class inequity, global pandemic, and climate emergency.”

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