people the We
/
2020
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people the We
Adrian Aguilera and Betelhem Makonnen Prizer Arts and Letters
October 30 - January 10, 2021
؟america in surveillve will who
؟real who
؟free who [1]
people the We is a collaborative exhibition by the artists Adrian Aguilera and Betelhem Makonnen conceived in the wake and on-going aftermath of the Black Lives Matter led uprisings that were reignited in May 2020. Over a series of masked and socially distanced exchanges, mostly in the natural spaces outside both their studios, Aguilera and Makonnen tried to give form to the overwhelming personal and collective emotions of rage, disappointment, exhaustion and bruised hope that they experienced in the last six months. Cultivating their continuous curiosity about the relationship between symbols and collective identity, transnationality and diaspora perspectives, as well as history's inextricable hold on the present, Aguilera and Makonnen introduce new multimedia work in conversation with existing work to reflect on this (re)current moment in our country.
︎︎︎Read more
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[1] WHO REAL? by Egyptian American poet Marwa Helal. The violent hypocrisy of the iconic phrase from the US Constitution as well as this poem, which echoes its questions, inform the exhibition's title.
![Betelhem Makonnen w/ Adrian Aguilera untitled (a flag for John Lewis or a greenscreen placeholder for an America that is yet to be) fabric, flag hardware, and pole 3 x 5 x 28 ft 2020. Courtesy of the artists](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/836c2d894221122461319729e41ba7fa9210e636e3832e780150549a967883e0/01.jpg)
![Betelhem Makonnen w/ Adrian Aguilera people the We publication, 2020 broadsheet size newsprint in black and white, edition of 400. Courtesy of the artists](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0b79dd60b3a03e5d42015304a62bbecf2d32c4ac44a13332cba46b162307a2ed/03.jpg)
![Betelhem Makonnen w/ Adrian Aguilera untitled (foraged flag photographs) Cyanotype paper, sticks, stones, and sunlight 7 in x 9 in 2020. Photography by Prizer Arts & Letters](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eef07965977fe08a68c7a90c8b7a7aff3e7d61ca5a4e66b982ac2fe79ee73ef9/05.jpg)
![Exhibition view Adrian Aguilera untitled (+500 years in américa 01, 03) 2019 vinyl car wrap mounted on acrylic 48 x 30 in, each. Photography by Prizer Arts & Letters](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8e6da47b1bba6b7d22b0544421aa9c09f859b82f9bc004a237635c2ba82de496/06.jpg)
![Exhibition view. Photography by Prizer Arts & Letters](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d04b9b130b8b2d643c04deb7a894fa202bf68b1c302667d7849bfa15ec13b790/07.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5232de92889b57e327c4c786963a86a06e59dba0cc907bf4594b4c244032b279/people_the_we_window.jpg)
![Exhibition view Adrian Aguilera / Betelhem Makonnen untitled (hypnopompic state) 2020 single-audio channel and chroma-green light dimensions variable. Photography by Prizer Arts & Letters](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bd4d0d81848804ebd86035c64a4b94965f6ed1a7c663037f4282d406b36c41a3/8.jpg)