Root Division Presents: "I Am..."
Image Info: Storm Bookhard, Laith, 2019, Inkjet print, 14 x 11 in.
Curator: Adrianne Ramsey
Exhibition Dates: July 9 - August 14, 2021 / On view in the gallery
2nd Saturday Receptions: July 10 & August 14, 2021 / 3-7pm Gallery Hours | 7-9 pm Opening Reception
Exhibiting Artists:
Alexandra Bell
Storm Bookhard
Brittany Rose Bradley
Katie Dorame
Lisa Jan Fong
Camilo Godoy
Mark Harris
Kacy Jung**
Jear Keokham**
Nasim Moghadam
Ronald Rael & Virginia San Fratello (Rael San Fratello)
Reniel del Rosario
Stephanie Syjuco
Taravat Talepasand
Andrew Wilson
Join Root Division this July and August for "I AM...", curated by Adrianne Ramsey. This group exhibition features 15 artists who question and challenge established definitions and historical narratives in regards to personal identity. The exhibition title is abbreviated from a 2013 painting series made by American artist Hank Willis Thomas titled “I Am A Man.” The images are a reproduction and re-appropriation of the simple, declarative protest signs carried by a large group of Black men during the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike. The signs are meant to assert Black men’s rights against segregation and racism—affirming their identities as human beings and U.S. citizens, while levying questions of representation, commodification, and the value of one’s identity.
The interdisciplinary works in "I AM..." respond critically to the idea that American identity is complicit and bound to patterns of violence and rampant discrimination. Adrianne Ramsey, the exhibition’s curator shares that: “over the past few years, we as a nation have witnessed people from several marginalized groups—Muslims, African-Americans, Latinos, undocumented immigrants, indigenous peoples, and members of the LGBTQ+ community—protesting on and off the internet to fight against the ideological and physical violence they often face. Unfortunately, the continued passage and implementation of punitive enforcement policies is a painful reminder of the political marginalization of select groups in the United States.”
This exhibition explores a historical throughline starting with the civil rights era imagery conjured by the exhibition’s title, moving into a recognition of the energy and urgency of the identity politics of the 1980-90s, and into our current era—where the language of discrimination and state violence simply shifted—finding viable stakes in the age of social media and Donald Trump.
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"I AM..." will be on view in our gallery by appointment from July 9 - August 14, 2021.
Email us at visit@rootdivision.org to schedule an appointment.
2nd Saturday Openings:
Saturday, July 10, 3-7 pm Gallery Hours
Saturday, July 10, 7-9 pm Opening reception
Saturday, August 14, 7-9 pm Closing reception featuring live performance by Reniel del Rosario
To learn more about exhibition updates, visit our website and social media channels:
rootdivision.org @rootdivision - (IG) @RootDivision SF - (FB)
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ABOUT ROOT DIVISION
Root Division is a visual arts non-profit in San Francisco that connects creativity and community through a dynamic ecosystem of arts education, exhibitions, and studios. Root Division's mission is to empower artists, foster community service, inspire youth, and enrich the Bay Area through engagement in the visual arts. The organization is a launching pad for artists, a stepping-stone for educators and students, and a bridge for the general public to become involved in the arts.
Root Division is supported in part by a plethora of individual donors and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission: Community Investments, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Violet World Foundation, Deutsche Bank Foundation, and Bill Graham Memorial Fund.