Black & White Projects, 2830 20th Street, No.105, San Francisco

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Black & White Projects (formerly ASC Projects) is pleased to present Issued ID: Minority as Brand, with works by Craig Calderwood, Chris Evans, Xandra Ibarra, Channing Morgan, Tim Roseborough, and Related Tactics (Michele Carlson, Weston Teruya, and Nathan Watson) showcased in the exhibition and through multiple events, publications, and panel discussions. The exhibition will be on view from March 18 to April 30, 2016.

Minority as Brand discusses the problematic positions and economies of being a minority (race, gender, class) in the art world. The Minority Artist, perpetually forced to pander or advocate, has the expectation of being “type-cast”, fetishized, and pigeon-holed. And chances are, a qualifier will be added to your talent: woman artist, black performer, queer writer. The minority brand is a double-edged sword — the fetishization affords more opportunity to be hired or included in shows, but usually only as that identity/brand. And what if you are a minority artist who does not create work about your minority-hood?

Minority as Brand is the third installment of Issued ID, an ongoing series of exhibitions, writing, conversations, and events unpacking the impositions of identity. “Issued ID” references the government-issued identification cards that define an individual by seemingly simple surface traits—age, race, gender, height—but is also a play on words, reflecting the many “issues” brought up by being forced to define a person in glib terms and the complexities of an identity that does not fall into a single check-box. The project was launched in 2013 with a selection of video works that brought out the similarities in language around being mixed-race and transgender. 2014 hosted Nigger/Queer/Cunt: an exhibition about three difficult words exploring three words with a complex history of usage and reclamation. Curated and collected by Rhiannon Evans MacFadyen, Issued ID offers a common thread of dialogue about the struggle for definition when you’re not easily defined.

Support for Issued ID: Minority as Brand is provided in part by Southern Exposure’s Alternative Exposure Grant Program

About Black & White Projects

Black & White Projects (formerly ASC projects) promotes and exhibits artists pushing boundaries of scope, scale, medium, venue, and dialogue, and offers programming to facilitate conversation, professional enrichment, and collaborative projects. We are located at 2830 20th Street, No. 105, in San Francisco’s Mission District. We are open Thursdays and Fridays and readily by appointment. For more information, please email asc@asimplecollective.com