SaveArtSpace presents We Exist - The Future Is Fluid a group LGBTQAI+ Trans, and non-binary public art and gallery exhibition curated by Cyrah Dardas, Noura Ballout, and Bakpak Durden. Selected artists, who will be included on billboards, are Darryl DeAngelo Terrell, Lancer Casem, Levon Kafafian, Shterna Goldbloom, and Bakpak Durden. The gallery exhibition also will host featured artists; Kaelyn Schreiber, Antonio Velez, Saylem Celeste, Utē Petit, and Clare Gatto.

During the week of April 20, SaveArtSpace will launch public art installations for each selected artist artwork on billboard ad spaces throughout Detroit. These locations will be on view for at least one month.

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.

Selected Artists

Public Art Location 6019 E Davison St, Detroit, MI

Artist Statement

Being a big bitch, in a world of small hoes, I exude an energy and identity that don't completely fit into the Binary, I exist in a void. By way of an alter ego named Dion, I explore what it means to be desired, more than to just fit in, but to feel fucking included, to exist in a place where my body in all of its blackness, queerness, and femme-ness is the norm

This is explored through photography, video, performance, text, and sound conjured through Dion in their exploration of wanting to be viewed as whole and worthy of existence. Pulling Influences from the black urban aesthetic i.e Wigs, long hair, makeup, luscious fur coats. braggadocious jewelry, peacock wicker chairs, the finest fabrics, and jewels, and other items that allude to black queer opulence. 

Bio

Darryl DeAngelo Terrell (b. 1991 Detroit, Mi) is a BLK queer artist, digital curator, and writer, currently based in Detroit, MI. A  graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where they received their Master of Fine Art in Photography. Darryl studied under the supervision of Roberto Sifuentes, Ayanah Moore, Michelle Grabner, and Xaviera Simmons to name a few. Darryl's work is centered around the philosophy of F.U.B.U. (The Shit Is For Us), They think about how their work can aid in a larger conversation about blackness, and it many intersectionalities. Their work explores the displacement of black and brown people, femme identity, and strength, the black family structure, sexuality, gender, safe spaces, and personal stories, all while keeping in mind the accessibility of art.

Darryl is a 2020 Redbull House of Art Resident, 2019 Kresge Arts In Detroit Visual Arts Fellow,  2018 Luminarts Fellow in Visual Arts, a 2017/18 Hatch Project Artist in Resident at Chicago Artist Coalition, 2017 Artist in Resident at ACRE, a semifinalist for the 2017 Edes Fellowship. Darryl has also performed at The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NYC YC,  the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Il, Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, TN, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale, AZ and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.

You can connect with Darryl on Instagram at @blkboyshine.

Public Art Location: 12730 E Warren Ave, Detroit, MI

Bio:

Lancer Casem is a multidisciplinary artist, born & raised in the Philippines and currently based in Detroit, Michigan. Lancer graduated from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI in 2019 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography. Throughout Lancer’s current existence and navigation in Detroit, the exploration and examination of her birth country–the Philippines–has begun to unfold through the juxtaposition of both worlds. With the memories of what her life was like before America, Lancer continues to navigate her personal and social space through a constant documentation with a focus on lens based work.

Statement:

Throughout my current existence and navigation in Detroit, the exploration and examination of my birth country–the Philippines–has begun to unfold through the juxtaposition of both worlds. With the memories of what my life was like before America, I continue to navigate my personal and social space with a constant documentation through my lens based work. 

My work delves into the mirrored aspects of Detroit that are found in the Philippines, and vice versa. The comparisons and similarities of Detroit's nightlife that is layered over the everyday images of my homeland has created a new space and becomes a visual representation of healing and coping. Everyday, I am conflicting the views of who I am supposed to be on a societal level because I inherently do not fit within the rules of a western American society. The documentation of everyday life in the Philippines–while layering and collaging  my friends and community in Detroit–has offered a comfort and body of work that comments on the importance of having thoughts, ideas and conversations around you.

Focusing on the similarities between Detroit and the Philippines, it becomes a personal mission to overlap and weave both communities together. My work begins to express and proclaim the hardships, joys and lifestyles of the communities that don’t align with the American Dream. The community that is ignored, sometimes even despised by more affluent Americans. Ultimately, my project conveys why the Western world is no different than the neighborhoods of their lavish vacations in foreign land.

You can connect with Lancer on Instagram at @lansuh.

Public Art Location: 3619 Seven Mile E, Detroit, MI

You can connect with Levon on Instagram at @visionsoftransition.

Public Art Location: 15761 Mack Ave, Detroit, MI

Project Statement: 

“Feygele”

noun YIDDISH informal offensive   

1.      a small bird

2.      a homosexual

Feygele is a project showcasing photographs and other media with LGBTQIA Jews from religious backgrounds who have struggled to find ways of integrating their history and family traditions with their sexuality and gender. Similarly to other very conservative religions, Orthodox Judaism does not support alternative expressions of sexuality or gender presentation, and individuals attempting to come out are often forced out of the community. As a result, it can seem as if there are no queer Jews in religious spaces. The word, feygele, expresses both the queerness of these Jews and their flight. In this project, I aim to make visible that which has historically been hidden.

 * Some of my images obscure the faces of the subjects in order to keep them safe.

Artist Bio: 

Shterna Goldbloom received her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design (2019). Her photography has been exhibited at EXPOChicago, the RISD Museum, ClampArt Gallery, Kniznick Gallery, the Mint Museum, and in the Fotovakschool in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. She is the grateful recipient of many prizes including the Dorner Prize, the HBI Artist Program, the Hahnemühle Award, and scholarships from Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Columbia College Chicago, and Rhode Island School of Design. Her work can be seen in Lilith Magazine, In Geveb, V1, Vaybertaytsh, and Judisk Krönika.

You can connect with Shterna on Instagram at @shternagoldbloom.

Public Art Location: 17411 Mack Ave, Detroit, MI

Bakpak Durden is an interdisciplinary fine artist. With a primary focus on the figure, Bakpak uses a range of mediums including oil and acrylic paint, graphite and fine art photography to create their hyperrealistic, conceptual style. Their detailed, emotionally engaging subjects shine a spotlight on human feelings and moods.

Bakpak has displayed their work at MOCAD, Arab American National Museum, NorWest Gallery, Assemble Sound, The Bottom Line, Cass Café and KO Gallery. They expanded their creative practice and brought their fine art aesthetic to the public art realm. Bakpak has completed murals throughout Detroit as part of the City Walls Blight Abatement Residency, the 2019 Murals in the Market Festival, and the 2019 Quicken Loans Small Business Murals program.

Bakpak is focused on continuing their work within community, queer and mental health advocacy and representation as a detroiter in the beorgening art scene.

You can connect with Bakpak on Instagram at @bakpakdurden.

Featured Artists

Artist Bio: 

My pronouns are They/Them. I’m a genderless, sober, big-love loving queer, born and raised in Portland. When I’m not taking photographs, it’s likely I’m rooting on the local babes at a Portland drag show, eating pancakes, flailing around at a hip hop dance class, wandering around in the mountains, or having a game night with friends.

With photography, I've found an incredible way to express myself. I love being able to send a message through art, and to do so unapologetically. I usually spend more time searching for the perfect poem to use with an image than I do editing it - the story and the emotion behind the image is what's important to me. I take photos of queer + trans + non binary people mainly to highlight narratives not typically showcased in mainstream culture, and because we're real damn fun to be around. It makes me feel like I’m part of a community and connected to people in this way that I wouldn’t be able to be without my photography. I have a few queer weddings booked for May & June and am excited to be around more big queer joy! 

Another thing to mention:

My friend Emerenz approached me with the idea to submit to We Exist - and was co-producer/co-director of this project! They are currently living in Canada but are hoping to move to Portland soon to be with their queer chosen family. They have a knack for bringing people together and making them feel seen.

You can connect with Kaeyln on Instagram at @kaelynrose__.

About: This Photo was taken in the fall of 2019 in Berlin. I photographed musician Neocamp for an editorial fashion story. This image came about inspired by the wig, and of course, the classical art.

Bio: Hello, my name is Antonio. I'm a Mexican/American image maker from San Francisco, CA.

I graduated from the Academy of Art University with a degree in photography in 2012, since then I've been exploring and polishing my voice to create an authentic, bold, and emotional language. 

My soul feeds on music, art, fashion, beauty, rebellion, sex, diversity, youth, history, queerness, but most importantly: humanity.

I currently work between California and Europe.

You can connect with Antonio on Instagram at @antoniovelez.nett.

You can connect with Saylem on Instagram at @saylemceleste.

Bio: I am obsessively interested in public transit and infrastructure; planes and trains specifically. I love to see the way we can build systems for ourselves that are dignifying and efficient. Something about seeing a plane or bus makes me curious about others journey. Where are they going? What is that persons life like? Are they totally loving this transit experience or disgusted by it? Im also a lil country, I love farming, quilting, figuring out how to concoct something from scratch. I am working on starting a transit corporation built on a reparation funded model. The goal is to subsidize mobility for Black folks from taking the bus to flying across the world. Im also building a confederacy of beings who are interested in founding a new nation, and have a beautiful garden with a small quilt shop. I am originally from Southfield, Michigan and I miss Northwest Airlines dearly. When the McNamara Terminal was first built in 2000, my parents brought me and we got to ride the terminal A tram without having a ticket. I still have the poster from opening day. I am now living in New Orleans, LA, connecting with family and often frustrated that more buildings aren't pink.

Statement: This past year I've been making drawings imagining what a landless nation would look like. The Landless Confederacy of Ailantha; inspired by an invasive tree found on every continent as a result of the French and Dutch colonial projects. Commonly known as the "Ghetto Palm" or the "Tree of Heaven," it can be found growing in abandoned lots, contaminated industrial sites, or comfortably in the woods. I want to live in a nation as this tree, adaptive, robust, and thrives no matter the circumstance of their condition. A freedom loving tree, a freedom loving nation; for all beings no matter the iteration of self. I've been inspired reading about different first nation peoples who still steward unceded territory and resist western imperialism, as well as past attempts to form the New Afrikan Republic in the U.S. South. The way that land, water and air have been stripped of their rights and commodified is linked to ways we dehumanize one another. In a new nation, I'd like all beings to be held in deep regard. With an understanding that none of us exist in isolation; our stories are tethered to one another. With this drawing specifically I looked to Rojava, and the role of trans and genderqueer peoples in some First Nation tribes. I'm working through how in a landless nation; how people might protect themselves and those who may not be able to. Sissy Shootas; a militia of honorable and perceptive people. Sensitive, holding a flexibility to choose one's own existence and they see fit. A nation built for all beings and their divine existence, and tenacious in our protection and self determination.

You can connect with Utē on Instagram at @swampbender.

You can connect with Clare on Instagram at @clare.gatto.