painter etc

this is the second piece I planned to exhibit for Near Wild Heaven. it is a matching pair of bronze cast bolo ties with teeth at their center. the tooth of the left bolo tie is a premolar with a chipped root and the one on the right is a molar with 3 roots. they are both fully functional pieces of jewelry and are hung on furniture pins. they are intended to be worn separately but evidently match.

this piece is called "Driving to See You" and I cast them over a year ago and finished them for the exhibition. how ironic! they were a labor of love also lost to the postal ether. i will be overjoyed to wear mine (molar) once it is located, lol.

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I wish I had better photos of this piece but I dont because it is lost to the postal ether. it was originally created created for the one day exhibition curated by @/kitleastlikelyto and @/autumn.loe Near Wild Heaven at @/hpgalleries but alas, I have literally no idea where it is due to a shipping snaffoo.

this piece is called "There's Something about Us (Le Cafe 1978)" documenting Disco Le Cafe, one of the first public queer spaces in las vegas. its acrylic on trans tape, 52x52 inches. I learned about it from a website called OutHistory (outhistory.org) when doing some research for a project proposal. even though I didn't get the project opportunity, I was still interested in making the piece, which documents las vegas' queer history.

I was interested in this because as someone who has lived in las vegas almost my whole life, there's a sort of conception that vegas is a place you go to do things, a temporary moment in a person's life where they do something crazy and then return to elsewhere. but no one can do any of that stuff without people. yeah, you go to vegas to get blackout drunk and gamble, but who serves you the drink? who checked you into your hotel? who empties the ash tray near the slots? theres an entire history of places and people beyond these ephemeral moments of going to this mythological conception of "Vegas".

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*if you want one of these, I only have 2 left! $35 each, but i have a sliding scale, so basically we can talk about the price if you can't afford it*

June's $10 patreon tier reward. I loved making this! love letter to fat femmes. you make the world go round!!

this is a 4 layer reduction print (on linen). the orange is referenced from a real orange that i bought for the express purpose of referencing it for this print. I got excited about the loving messaging and almost forgot the reason I made it (content warning for fatphobia, mentions of restrictive eating):

theres so much concern about losing weight, about getting skinny, people perceiving thinness as good and fatness as insult or bad. I see it all the time anonymously, with children, with friends, with random strangers on the internet. so this is my way of saying that fatness is not bad. it can be neutral. it can even be good!

lots of fatphobia is masked as health concerns, often ignoring the fact that weight is not necessarily directly linked to good or bad health; further, neglecting the fact that things many people do to "get skinny" are not "healthy": not eating, over exercising, developing restrictive eating habits, and self-talk that reinforces any of those behaviors are also bad for your body.

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if you missed me at my most recent art market and you wanna buy one of these prints for a loved one for pride, feel free to dm me! they are $15 each. I'm gonna set up an Etsy later, but for now I'll just take requests through DMs.

thanks to a wonderful idea from @/so_cal_luchador (on instagram) I decided to make some of these prints with the Palestinian flag. 100% of the proceeds from any of the prints with the Palestinian flag will go to a family on the @gazavetters list. there are some families who reached out to me for help, so it'd be nice to be able to donate more to them than I can on my own.

if there's a specific flag you want, I take commissions for these. I also have random colors if you want the sentiment without a specific identity or flag. pre-existing prints will be on light yellow paper; new ones are on light pink paper.

eating an orange while crying

eating an orange while crying

eating an orange while crying

eating an orange while crying

eating an orange while crying

peeling an orange while crying

I'm Layan from Gaza, a family of four sisters and four brothers.

After the return of the war on Gaza, we lost our security and safety and are suffering greatly from the lack of food and drink due to the blockade imposed on us by the occupation.

I dreamed of leaving Gaza to ensure a bright future for them, but we can't achieve that without you 🙏🏻😔.

Please help me. You are my family's lifeline.

I am contacting you hoping you will support me by participating or donating.

Thank you for your kindness and help 😊🙏🏻

✅️My account has been verified by @gazavetters, my number on the list is (#317)✅️

https://gofund.me/752029c4

Dear humanity,

Please Help Me – My Son May Die at Any Moment.

I'm Amal, a mother of three children, living under the weight of the genocide taking place in Gaza. 🍉

Here’s my story, and I’m reaching out with a hopeful heart 💔✨, hoping someone will feel what my family and I are going through.

My son is suffering from a severe and life-threatening injury after being shot by Israeli drones. He urgently needs medical treatment outside Gaza.

Time is running out, and we are facing a critical situation. I am asking for your generosity to help us save him either through a donation or by sharing this urgent plea with others

I beg you, i kiss your feet, to help my son. My son may die at any moment.

I lost most of my family. I'm afraid to lose my son too 🥺

Mohammed deserves to live a happy and healthy life, just like every other child on this earth.

So I humbly ask you to donate even a little or at least reblog this appeal.

Please Donate now:👇

https://www.gofundme.com/f/join-us-in-our-struggle-save-our-family-from-war-in-gaza

sharing the flyers for my solo show at pitch black printing co. the following image is the more legible version or you can peep the image description below. the reception will be on April 19th starting at 6pm and I hope to see lots of people there!! this exhibition will feature three works on canvas and my large double sided painting that I have been sharing over the last couple of months. the work (which I am going back and forth on the title of) is the largest single work I've ever made and the longest I've ever spent on a piece. these works are meditations on time and care in the face of horror and a reminder to bear witness while also taking action.

one way you can take action is by donating to the fundraisers of Palestinian families (slides 3-5). I have selected these particular ones as they are verified fundraisers that I have been contacted about and been asked to donate to/share. links to these fundraisers below, as well as the spreadsheet where they are verified, as there are hundreds of families on that list for people to donate to if they are interested in helping beyond these three. lots of families are also very active on tumblr and give updates about their situations there.

I hope this show can be one actionable way for people to consider their positionality and help people in need even when our shitass government makes us feel powerless.

[ID: image 1 - a flyer for an exhibition titled "Finding the Future: For Palestinian Liberation". the title and following text is written in an all capital black serif font on top of a warm yellow background. underneath the text is a semi-transparent image of a painting of a keffiyeh. in the corner, overlapping with that painting is more text that reads, Aiyana Graham. April 19 - May 24, 2025. Pitch Black Printing Co. Gallery. 700 E 4th St #A. Reno NV. 7AM - 7PM. Reception: April 19th, 6PM." The flyer has a border of a yellow illustration of the net pattern of a keffiyeh on a black background.

image 2: a similar flyer, with a lighter yellow color and the painting image in the center, opaque instead of in the background. a the texture of the painting is represented as the border.

image 3: a screenshot of a gofundme titled, "Join Us in Our Struggle: Save Our Family from War in Gaza." it shows a collage of 3 images: one of a small, smiling child; the next of a person in a white hijab holding the Palestinian flag; and the third, three young children smiling and posing for the camera while sitting on a car.

image 4: a screenshot of a gofundme titled "Save Kareman Dohan's Family from Despair." the collage of images shows a two parents tending to a crying child in front of a truck with blankets piled high strapped to it; the same family of 3 taking a selfie with the child being younger, before the war; one black and white of a person in front of a boat; and the final of the boat.

image 5: "a screenshot of a chuffed.org fundraiser titled, "Donate to Help Mosab Saving who's left of his family." the photo collage shows a black and white picture of three people; a destroyed building; and a view of the building before it was destroyed. /end IDs]

https://gofund.me/bbc8e0ff