Bio:
Rhian Parker, she/he/they, Poet and Collage Curator. Rhian is a black, Southern dyke from Atlanta, Georgia. They are curious about collective memory, possessions (objects and spiritual), experimental genre forms, bad movies, and handcrafts. When she is not making art she is watching sci-fi, imagining new futures, listening to audiobooks, and wondering if an obscure topic is already a JSTOR article.
Artist Statement:
This collection of work goes with a larger, personal collection of grief. This collection of work is made in place of the years that grieving wasn’t accessible to a black young person trying to grow, trying to move on from the ghosts grabbing at their ankles. The poems do not beget the collages. The collages do not beget the poems. They both exist in the same space, at the same time — working together to grasp at the thin wisps of black death and mourning, spirals, and just barely tangible generational curses. Be with yourself when partaking in my work. Be with your vulnerability. Uncomfortability and “Coincidences.”
Mourn with them.
Thank you.