- Manal Abu-Shaheen
- Vahap Avşar
- Jesus Benavente and Felipe Castelblanco
- Brian Caverly
- Kerry Downey
- Magali Duzant
- Golnaz Esmaili
- Mohammed Fayaz
- Kate Gilmore
- Jonah Groeneboer
- Bang Geul Han and Minna Pöllänen
- Dave Hardy
- Sylvia Hardy
- Shadi Harouni
- Janks Archive
- Robin Kang
- Kristin Lucas
- Carl Marin
- Eileen Maxson
- Melanie McLain
- Shane Mecklenburger
- Lawrence Mesich
- Freya Powell
- Xiaoshi Vivian Vivian Qin
- Alan Ruiz
- Samita Sinha and Brian Chase
- Barb Smith
- Monika Sziladi
- Alina Tenser
- Trans-Pecos with 8 Ball Community, E.S.P. TV, and Chillin Island
- Mark Tribe
- Sam Vernon
- Max Warsh
- Jennifer Williams
- An Itinerary with Notes
- Exhibition Views
- Hidden
- Watershed
- A Distant Memory Being Recalled (Queens Teens Respond)
- Overhead: A Response to Kerry Downey’s Fishing with Angela
- Sweat, Leaks, Holes: Crossing the Threshold
- PULSE: On Jonah Groeneboer’s The Potential in Waves Colliding
- Interview: Melanie McLain and Alina Tenser
- Personal Space
- Data, the Social Being, and the Social Network
- Responses from Mechanical Turk
- MAPS, DNA, AND SPAM
- Queens Internacional 2016
- Uneven Development: On Beirut and Plein Air
- A Crisis of Context
- Return to Sender
- Interview: Vahap Avşar and Shadi Harouni
- Mining Through History: The Contemporary Practices of Vahap Avşar and Shadi Harouni
- A Conversation with Shadi Harouni's The Lightest of Stones
- Directions to a Gravel Quarry
- Walk This Way
- Interview: Brian Caverly and Barb Smith
- "I drew the one that has the teeth marks..."
- BEAT IT! (Queens Teens respond)
- Moments
- Lawn Furniture
- In Between Difference, Repetition, and Original Use
- Interview: Dave Hardy and Max Warsh
- Again—and again: on the recent work of Alan Ruiz
- City of Tomorrow
- Noticing This Space
- NO PLACE FOR A MAP
- The History of the World Was with Me That Night
- What You Don't See (Queens Teens Respond)
- Interview: Allison Davis and Sam Vernon
- When You’re Smiling…The Many Faces Behind the Mask
- Interview: Jesus Benavente and Carl Marin
- The Eternal Insult
- Janking Off
- Queens Theatricality
Have you ever gotten horrible news on a beautiful day? Walked outside and felt the sun touch your skin so sickly sweet? I’ve had that feeling only twice in my life, before When You’re Smiling…The Many Faces Behind the Mask (2016). On both occasions, I learned that I was about to lose someone close to me. The installation has all the makings of a smile, Abby Dobson’s voice fluttering over back-country acoustic riffs, a backdrop with a collage of colors and images. But as I listen more closely to the music, I realize there’s no joy here at all.
The wall behind Abby, on further glance, does not depict the story of a sweet country afternoon, as her voice would have you believe. It shows the truths of this world. The “peace” that we have yet to obtain, the work that we have yet to reap the benefits for, and the blood that we’ve spilled all for naught. By the time I’ve realized this, Abby’s voice has become stripped and raw. A chill lies over me, and I feel exposed and vulnerable. I’m drained, as if I’ve smeared my own blood across the canvas.
Strangely enough, I find myself seeking comfort within the collage, like a quilt I could drape over myself. Isn’t it funny how we desire the things that remind us of our pain? It’s more soothing to embrace it. Or maybe we use it as a defense mechanism to justify our failure, or create an excuse to give up. One image that stood out to me, and that reappeared throughout the collage, was of jazz musician Louis Armstrong sitting atop a ladder in what appeared to be an artist’s studio. I immediately identified him as a father figure. Perhaps that’s why I found comfort in the piece. “Our Father, the creator,” looks down upon the cruel world he has fashioned while Abby as “Mother Earth” weeps from amid the carnage.
Yanara Porter is an aspiring journalist and creative writer, which may seem like a contradiction, but given the realities of our current world, she will be the perfect fit for the genre. Growing up in the East New York section of Brooklyn, she’s had experiential knowledge of the cruelties and injustices of society. Nevertheless she is still able to see the potential for beauty that resides in all things. Yanara received her BA in journalism from SUNY Purchase, with a concentration in music and performance. Yanara Porter strives to radiate hope and creativity from her writing.