Image Caption: Keioui Keijaun Thomas, I ONCE SAID I KNEW YOU WOULD… 2019. Credit: Special Iteration: My Last American Dollar UK, Photo by Andrea Abbatangelo, 2019.
Visual description: An image of the artist on all fours on the floor photographed from behind. The image is bathed in red light and the artist is only wearing a pair of black, thigh-high stockings and a thong. The words “I ONCE SAID I KNEW YOU WOULD" are inscribed on a board on the wall in the center of the image, facing the artist.
EXHIBITION
Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out
June 6–July 18, 2021
at/with Participant Inc, New York
Hands Up, Ass Out is New York-based artist Keioui Keijaun Thomas' first long-form exhibition, and the culmination of a body of work six years in the making, from 2014–2020.
Amassed from iterations of writing, image-making, performances, and choreographies, Hands Up, Ass Out showcases Keioui's journey toward self-affirmed transcendence from the tokenization that exploits and oppresses young, talented, and femme black bodies.
PAST EVENTS
Performance Video - My Last American Dollar: FINAL RUN
Performance video streamed July 12–July 17, 2021 on participantafterdark.art
New Work Premiere - Come Hell or High Femmes, 2021, in three acts
24 Hour video premiere of Act 3. & Act 2.
Streamed for one night only / July 17, 11:59 PM–July 18, 11:59 PM EST
on participantafterdark.art
Come Hell or High Femmes:
Act 3. I Looked Up at the Sky and I, Imagined All of the Stars Were My Sisters, 2021
Act 2. The Last Trans Femmes on Earth: Dripping Doll Energy! 2021
Act 1. She From Flurda, but some Call Ha Florida, (forthcoming)
Thomas’ new series of video poems/performances were filmed during, around and throughout the current global pandemic. In this series, Thomas reimagines how we can hold each other; care for ourselves; and honor our time and energy, while moving through uncharted territories with a plethora of possibilities.
Each act was filmed and edited by/with one friend, creating portals to new worlds where black and brown trans people are able to thrive, heal, and transcend. Taking up space. This is a love letter; a gentle reminder; a kiss up into the sky; a guiding light for black and brown femmes to know that we are here. We have always been here. Everything the light and shadow touches is ours, too.
PRESS: NYT, MUSÉE MAGAZINE
Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021, installation view at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Window View: Covered in Lube, 2014–16, 2021, in Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021 at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Visual Description: A towering sculpture made up of a large, single-pane window stands atop three concrete cinder blocks. Three red, plastic buckets with gold yarn sit on the window’s top ledge. The words “I KNEW U WOULD BE HERE” are inscribed in lube on the glass panel. A monitor playing a video is visible through the glass.
Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021, installation view at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Visual Description: A sheer, silk panel hangs from the exhibition space’s ceiling, depicting the artist naked and vulnerable with their fists raised, ready to fight.
Case 1: Prints, Ephemera, Documentation, 2021 (detail) in Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021 at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021, installation view at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021, installation view at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Hair Line Towers: Hang Me Out to Dry, 2016–18, 2021 (detail), in Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021 at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Hair Line Towers: Hang Me Out to Dry, 2016–18, 2021 (detail), in Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021 at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
In the Reflection of Ancient Tides, 2018 (still), in Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021 at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
BLACK BODIES, 2018 (still, detail), in Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021 at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Middle Passage: After the Party, 2018–20, in Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021 at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.
Keioui Keijaun Thomas: Hands Up, Ass Out, curated by Shehab Awad as Executive Care*, 2021, installation view at Participant Inc, New York. Photo: Daniel Kukla.