WE FOUND A WELL: Feather Chiaverini and Natasha Fortson

Runs / March 1 to April 28, 2024

Reception / Friday, March 1st, 6-9 PM

Hours: Sat-Sun from 2-6 PM

Queerness’s time is a stepping out of the linearity of straight time. Straight time is a self-naturalizing temporality. –– José Esteban Muñoz in "Queerness as Horizon: Utopian Hermeneutics in the Face of Gay Pragmatism"

This spring, Grizzly Grizzly presents We Found a Well, a collaborative room-sized installation by Feather Chiaverini and Natasha Fortson, an homage to José Muñoz, Octavia Butler, Louise Bourgeois, and Belkis Ayón. In We Found A Well Chiaverini and Fortson intentionally evoke the sensation of club lights turning on after an all-night party while simultaneously imagining where a queer revolution may lead us–perhaps through the looking glass, to a colorful and festooned utopia.

Through the use of a well, rope, and glitter, Chiaverini and Fortson construct a space where ideas of queer rebirth, queer utopia, and magical realism intermingle with thoughts of nature, horror, and love. This is not a quiet space for reflection but rather a political imagination brought forth as an immersive installation–a creative exploration and collaborative experience, in which Chiaverini and Fortson dare, “to imagine the not-yet-conscious.” (Muñoz)

In the center of the space, Chiaverini and Fortson place a paper mâché well, a watering hole, a place to commune adorned with gems, photographs and “things found on the ground.” The well is surrounded by outstretched creatures, constructed from ostrich feathers, silicone, athletic mesh, one wig, beads, braided fabric, and neoprene. The beings are arranged so as to seem to contemplate the well as the source of life. Here, Fortson and Chiaverini envision a world where their relationship with queerness, texture, nature, joy, and horror takes deepest root, of this they state, "Dropped off where the portal left us, we found a well. We are filled with joys of discovery and complicated fears of being discovered."

Philadelphia-based Feather Chiaverini explores how queer theory, horror, class, and pop culture shape our identities and how these tools can be used flexibly to shape the self. He draws inspiration from the theater and the everyday hustle of his family: his father owns a costume shop, his mother was an actress, and his grandfather was a clown. Using costumes as material, rather than adornment, Chiaverini creates immersive installations, soft sculptures, and digital environments that reimagine our horizons enabling us to resist and thrive. He states, “all the world's not a stage, but rather a dressing room, motel lobby, or throbbing club scattered with feathers, sequins, underwear, and sticky champagne. Broken glass glitters like diamonds when we stumble out onto the sidewalk in the morning.”

Connecting process with performance, Natasha Fortson draws inspiration from her cultural and environmental background. Her work is multidisciplinary and involves the use of print, sound, texture, and interactive installations. As a Chicana born in Los Angeles and raised in close proximity to Mexico, she is influenced by both her home countries. Natasha uses found objects and sustainable materials to create her art, and questions socio-political hierarchies by recontextualizing them through a structure of collaborative care. Her art aims to deepen the connection to the self.

Artist Bios:

Feather Chiaverini is a fiber and performance artist from Florida currently based in Philadelphia, PA. Feather has received degrees from the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, MI and Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA. He has shown work nationally at Trout Museum of Art, N’namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Temple Contemporary, ROY G BIV Gallery, and more. Currently he is the Residency Director of the Queer Materials Lab and adjuncts at the Tyler School or Art.

Natasha Fortson is a New York-based multidisciplinary artist and curator with a focus in oil painting, printmaking, and sculpture. She combines her traditional fine art upbringing with her BFA in graphic design from Pratt Institute and Elisava School of Design and Engineering. She is a recent resident of Arquetopia Printmaking Residency Puebla and is currently enrolled in Manifesto, Arquetopia Residency. Natasha has crafted her curatorial career to promote international connections between artists, most recently featuring Raíces, exhibited at Compére Collective.