dance dance otherwise we are lost

Gallery Hours: Thursday: 6 -8 pm | Fridays: 6 – 8 pm | Saturday: 2-5 pm

About the Exhibition

“dance dance otherwise we are lost” is an evocative exhibition that explores the captivating interplay between Arielle Austins’s paintings and the Miriam Parkers abstract photography. Inspired by the profound words of renowned dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch, the exhibition delves into the ways in which both mediums capture the essence of movement, emotion, and the human experience. Through a diverse collection of artworks, visitors are invited to witness the magic of dance translated onto canvas and through the lens, offering a multifaceted perspective on the inexorable human urge to dance and the profound significance of movement as an expression of our innermost desires, emotions, and stories. “Dance, Dance, Otherwise We Are Lost” is a celebration of the universal language of motion, inviting audiences to reflect upon the poignant connection between these artistic forms and the inherent beauty of fleeting moments that dance before our eyes.

Join us for an exhibition curated by Ysabel Pinyol Blasi, Executive Director of the Monira Foundationand and co-founder of Monira Residencies at Mana Contemporary.

About the Artists:

Miriam Parker

Miriam Parker has been influenced by her experience as a dancer, her study of Buddhism phenomenology, and her connection to the free jazz tradition.  Through re-organizational practices, Parker refines her understanding of individuality, outside of traditions built from oppressive ethics. Her practice is to find new modes of freedom through multiple narratives as a means to evolve. She does this through collaboration with other artists, musicians, filmmakers, dancers, and meditation practitioners – all equally concerned about social injustice and deeply rooted in experimental performance and interdisciplinary creation.

Parker is a Monira Foundation artist-in-residence at Mana Contemporary. In 2021 she received the Toulmin Fellowship through CBA and National Sawdust in collaboration with Marisa Michelson. She has performed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; PS1 MoMA, New York; The Fridman Gallery, New York; a residency at École Normale Supérieure, Paris; at the Every Women Biennial, New York; Survey Dover Plains, NY; at Vision Festival through consecutive years; the Satellite Art Fair, in Miami, FL; Clement Soto Velez Cultural and Education Center, New York; Whitebox ArtCenter, New York; a month residency at Governors Island in the House of Poetics curated by Cooper Union; among others. 

 She is co-founder and collaborator of Lost Voyage, a multimedia collaborative work led by seven women artists, Lost Voyage is an ongoing collaborative project that explores human relationships with displacement, haven, and metaphysical constructs through a communal experience. They have performed in WhiteBox New York, NY; Five Myles, in Brooklyn, NY; and Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn, NY. Parker lives and works in New York City.

 Miriam Parker has been influenced by her experience as a dancer, her study of Buddhism phenomenology, and her connection to the free jazz tradition.  Through re-organizational practices, Parker refines her understanding of individuality, outside of traditions built from oppressive ethics. Her practice is to find new modes of freedom through multiple narratives as a means to evolve. She does this through collaboration with other artists, musicians, filmmakers, dancers, and meditation practitioners – all equally concerned about social injustice and deeply rooted in experimental performance and interdisciplinary creation.

 Parker is a Monira Foundation artist-in-residence at Mana Contemporary. In 2021 she received the Toulmin Fellowship through CBA and National Sawdust in collaboration with Marisa Michelson. She has performed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; PS1 MoMA, New York; The Fridman Gallery, New York; a residency at École Normale Supérieure, Paris; at the Every Women Biennial, New York; Survey Dover Plains, NY; at Vision Festival through consecutive years; the Satellite Art Fair, in Miami, FL; Clement Soto Velez Cultural and Education Center, New York; Whitebox ArtCenter, New York; a month residency at Governors Island in the House of Poetics curated by Cooper Union; among others. She is co-founder and collaborator of Lost Voyage, a multimedia collaborative work led by seven women artists, Lost Voyage is an ongoing collaborative project that explores human relationships with displacement, haven, and metaphysical constructs through a communal experience. They have performed in WhiteBox New York, NY; Five Myles, in Brooklyn, NY; and Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn, NY. Parker lives and works in New York City.

Arielle Austin

 Arielle Austin is an abstract painter living and working in Austin, Texas. Abstraction allows the Los Angeles native the freedom to be playful and curious, while challenging the many ways of expressing her inner world beyond what words can impart. Her paintings are visual representations of the reclamation of her voice and feed a yearning for internal and spiritual mending. In sharing the fruits of her practice, Austin invites the viewer to bring their own processes and truest selves to allow for hope and light to do its own mending and liberating.

 For Austin, working primarily on stretched canvas gives a sense of discourse and commune within the act of creating. It is a conversation with self and Creator, the tools being used, and the canvas. Arielle uses pastels and charcoal for intentionally committed mark making, and acrylic paint for its ease of manipulation and its ability to speak to the varied everyday fluidity of emotions without having to utter a word. Within these mediums she is able to be authentic and true to the present, leaving room for moments of hearing, of humility and the recollection of memories.

Austin begins each piece by laying down diluted acrylic paint. The flick of a brush and quiet, bold markings of pastel or charcoal are applied to the canvas. Often, the title of the piece is written beneath opaque layers of paint, or slightly hidden between diluted washes as a way of claiming its name before its beginning. Within the process of layering, shaping and carving out the composition by using tools like brushes, rags, rubber spatulas, and, sometimes, her hands, Austin takes joy in the purge and edit as she moves both contemplatively and freely from canvas to canvas with multiple tools in hand. It is when the lingering questions arise, “have we said all that needs to be said? is the conversation finished?” are met with a flutter of excitement or sigh of relief, when she knows a piece has reached its completion.

The intuitive process of creating is a sacred communion and saving grace. Through Abstraction, Arielle finds her grounding while embracing room for error, room for questions and room for inquisitive thoughts and ideas to become tangible moments outside of her head and body. By way of redemption, Austin bravely confronts both Creator and self in order to share the hope of new beginnings, not only as a reminder to herself but for others to partake in as well.

More on Monira Foundation Exhibitions HERE