Kindred Solidarities: 
Queer Community and Chosen Families 

October 21, 2021 – January 22, 2022

Visit the virtual presentation at the bottom of this page

 
Christopher Udemezue, Blue Mountains and The Stain of William Thomas Beckford, 2017. Courtesy of the artist. [Image Description: Two shirtless Black people lay together surrounded by tropical flora, including palm tree fronds and birds-of-paradise. To the left of the image a white hand reaches through the flora.]

Christopher Udemezue, Blue Mountains and The Stain of William Thomas Beckford, 2017. Courtesy of the artist. [Image Description: Two shirtless Black people lay together surrounded by tropical flora, including palm tree fronds and birds-of-paradise. To the left of the image a white hand reaches through the flora.]

 

This exhibition continues to be accessible through our virtual presentation at the bottom of this page, best experienced on desktop. Please email us with any questions on navigating the virtual space.


The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation is pleased to present Kindred Solidarities: Queer Community and Chosen Families, a group exhibition reflecting on chosen familial structures in the context of queer culture, expanding beyond the notion of a heteronormative, nuclear, or government mandated framework. Kindred Solidarities features works by Jamie Diamond, Andrea Geyer, Nan Goldin, Larry Krone, Kalup Linzy, Carlos Motta with Julio Salgado, Parallel Lines (David Kelley, Jeannine Tang, Mike Cataldi, Hans Kuzmich, and Jens Maier-Rothe) and FIERCE, and Christopher Udemezue. Exploring the idea of a structure based on allyship, rather than genetics, the exhibition will address how family is defined through gender, sexuality, and the collision of global identities, cultures, and community experiences.

The artists in Kindred Solidarities mine the politics of representation, history, soap operas, and popular culture to examine questions surrounding the importance of safe neighborhoods, the depiction of queer love and happiness, and intergenerational supportive relationships. Addressing activist and outsider narratives, each draws on political engagement to further collective concerns, forming a connective thread of kinship with queer contemporaries and forebears.

Kindred Solidarities is curated by Anjuli Nanda Diamond and George Bolster. The accompanying brochure features an essay by Amber Jamilla Musser, Professor of English at the Graduate Center, CUNY. 

Press Release
Essay
Brochure

Installation views of “Kindred Solidarities” at The 8th Floor, October 2021. Photos by Adam Reich. Courtesy of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.

Visit the virtual presentation of Kindred Solidarities:

Best experienced on desktop. If you encounter any difficulties, please contact info@the8thfloor.org.