IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
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Artist Anthony Dexter Giannelli took over Mata's Instagram for the month of August 2023! He concluded his takeover with a recorded online artist talk on Mata’s YouTube channel and interactive IG Stories Q&A on the weekend of September 1-3, 2023.
For Anthony's exhibition, he wanted to provide as little context as possible so that viewers would be able to experience the reality of his disability with limited outside influence. In his Instagram takeover, he compared the 3D environment he created with its real-world setting, and showed viewers how the alterations lent more accurate depictions of his past and present realities. |
Click on an ARTWORK for details
CLICK ON AN ARTWORK FOR DETAILS
ABOUT
CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of PTSD & illnesses below.
"They want to know so badly but I don't really think they're ready for the answer, I'm not even ready at most times and I have to live with it.
The day after I finished a year and half long PTSD treatment, I went to celebrate by buying a new record and the shop owner asked me, 'So... what happened' and nodded to my crutches. Later the same day, I met a friend for dinner and a cyclist stopped and asked me 'If I'm okay...what happened?' I realized no matter where I am in my journey and my acceptance, it's never leaving me and it marks how the world interacts with me going forward.
Instances like this happen without fail every time I leave my home, whether it's a shopkeeper, a passerby, a friend of a friend of a friend, etc... Everyone asks as a way to make small talk or break the ice, expecting me to say a skiing accident or some lighthearted story of falling over while drunk. What am I supposed to reply? What 'happened' was deep, in no way 'light', and in no way something that I desire to talk about with someone I do not know.
It took me years to give myself an answer to what happened, and I'm supposed to graciously offer someone a light hearted quick answer to every intrusive question? If I respond with 'I'm disabled' or 'I have a bone disease', then the questions get even more intrusive. 'So you were born like this?' or 'Did the disease just show up one day?' or 'Will you get better?'
What will it take to satisfy these inquisitions? How much work do I have to do to draw the line and move on without it taking all my energy?
Here I'll give it one go, cross the line and give you what I have...
If you must know… is my best attempt at answering a question that everyone has been, are now, and always will be oh so eager to ask me yet in no way deserve an answer to." -Anthony Dexter Giannelli
CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of PTSD & illnesses below.
"They want to know so badly but I don't really think they're ready for the answer, I'm not even ready at most times and I have to live with it.
The day after I finished a year and half long PTSD treatment, I went to celebrate by buying a new record and the shop owner asked me, 'So... what happened' and nodded to my crutches. Later the same day, I met a friend for dinner and a cyclist stopped and asked me 'If I'm okay...what happened?' I realized no matter where I am in my journey and my acceptance, it's never leaving me and it marks how the world interacts with me going forward.
Instances like this happen without fail every time I leave my home, whether it's a shopkeeper, a passerby, a friend of a friend of a friend, etc... Everyone asks as a way to make small talk or break the ice, expecting me to say a skiing accident or some lighthearted story of falling over while drunk. What am I supposed to reply? What 'happened' was deep, in no way 'light', and in no way something that I desire to talk about with someone I do not know.
It took me years to give myself an answer to what happened, and I'm supposed to graciously offer someone a light hearted quick answer to every intrusive question? If I respond with 'I'm disabled' or 'I have a bone disease', then the questions get even more intrusive. 'So you were born like this?' or 'Did the disease just show up one day?' or 'Will you get better?'
What will it take to satisfy these inquisitions? How much work do I have to do to draw the line and move on without it taking all my energy?
Here I'll give it one go, cross the line and give you what I have...
If you must know… is my best attempt at answering a question that everyone has been, are now, and always will be oh so eager to ask me yet in no way deserve an answer to." -Anthony Dexter Giannelli
Exhibition Walkthrough
If You Must Know... places artworks and textures from Anthony Dexter Giannelli's material practice into a virtually constructed environment. In doing so, the artist recounts his interpretation of the event which resulted in his now permanent disability, losing much of his ability to walk; falling during the night into a sunken urban river and not being rescued until the next morning.
This collection consists of works on paper made to cope with pain and loss of mobility, video works of the real life location, video works taken while undergoing exposure to water during past PTSD treatments and audio from the lake outside the artist's current residence. The dialogue between the specific works in the exhibition was made to call back to this struggle with water; flowing in and out of time and reality, as the artist describes his reality and lived experience during that night.
This collection consists of works on paper made to cope with pain and loss of mobility, video works of the real life location, video works taken while undergoing exposure to water during past PTSD treatments and audio from the lake outside the artist's current residence. The dialogue between the specific works in the exhibition was made to call back to this struggle with water; flowing in and out of time and reality, as the artist describes his reality and lived experience during that night.
About the Artist
Portrait credit: Sarah Sasha Ayesha West
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Anthony Dexter Giannelli is a visual artist who explores immobility, fluidity, trauma, and authenticity through works on paper often translated onto virtual planes. His practice reimagines a life-altering encounter with water and the aftermath by layering natural and found materials such as snake skin, achiote, gold and dried flowers upon drawn images. This layering of dynamic saturation and reflection over static human forms mimic the animation of a body with statue-like features, riling just below a pool of water’s rippling surface.
Although his main practice is mainly based in physical multimedia works, due to the constraints of his disability, both physically and in terms of legal restrictions, he explores new ways of presenting these physically made surfaces in virtual spaces. Through his own practice and involvement in the group UKK Art Workers with Disabilities, Anthony works against ableist structures that control the lives of people with disabilities, and the prevailing culture of inaccessibility in the art world. |
Acknowledgements:
The works in this exhibition were made possible through collaboration on the 3D modeling with Michael Chang, photo and video collaboration with Sarah Sasha Ayesha West and further video assistance by Allison Moore.
This exhibition is partially funded by community donors in addition to the Vibrant Cities Arts Grant from LeBasse Projects and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
The works in this exhibition were made possible through collaboration on the 3D modeling with Michael Chang, photo and video collaboration with Sarah Sasha Ayesha West and further video assistance by Allison Moore.
This exhibition is partially funded by community donors in addition to the Vibrant Cities Arts Grant from LeBasse Projects and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Thank you for another year of Mata Art Gallery! Please consider donating to help us keep this project going. We're a completely not-for-profit creative space funded by the community. We never ask for submission fees or commissions, & artists receive 100% of their artwork sales. Your donations help pay the artists directly & help us continue to sustain this space.
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Please send donations to:
🌸 Venmo: @nicaaquino
🌸 PayPal: @nicaaquino (send as friends & family)
🌸 Cash.app: $nicaaquino666
🌸 Zelle: info@mataartgallery.org
