This Wednesday, 6th April, from 6:30-8pm, the Tate Modern will present Jacob Satterwhite’s Birds in Paradise—a six-part, two-channel film installation—which will be followed by a conversation with the artist.
ABOUT BIRDS IN PARADISE:
Birds in Paradise is a suite of films, titled after a key record that speaks to the visual motifs threaded throughout the work, is scored by a conceptual folk record the artist made from a cappella recordings written and sung by his late mother, the artist Patricia Satterwhite. Generating its narrative from an archive of borrowed anecdotes, personal mythologies, drawings and experimental dance performance footage accumulated by the artist throughout his life the work is a juxtapositions of queer Boschean tableaus decorated with performances by artists, queer activists, dancers, sex workers and actors from his community. Together, the six works depict the resilience of collective bodies in a time of existential crises, grief and post-apocalyptic fantasies. The suite of films have recently been exhibited at MoMA PS1, Haus der Kunst, the Athens Biennial, the Gwangju Biennial, and the Miller ICA at Carnegie Mellon, among others.
The screening comes on the heels of the artist’s first monographic survey at the Miller ICA at Carnegie Mellon; his artist residency at The Studio Museum in Harlem, and accompanying exhibition at MoMA PS1; as well as the announcement earlier this week of Satterwhite’s inclusion in the 2022 FRONT International triennial for contemporary art, and his release of a short film in collaboration with Perfume Genius for the musician’s new album, Ugly Season.
TICKETS: HERE
About the Artist
Jacolby Satterwhite (b.1986, United States) is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work explores themes of labour, consumption, carnality and fantasy through immersive installations and digital media. He uses a range of software to produce intricately detailed animations and live action video populated by the avatars of artists and friends. These animations serve as the stage on which the artist synthesises the multiple disciplines that encompass his practice: illustration, performance, painting, sculpture, photography and writing. Satterwhite draws from an extensive set of references, guided by queer theory, modernism and video game language to challenge conventions of Western art. miandn.com/artists/jacolby-satterwhite.
