ARTIST/ACTIVIST ELIJAH MCKINNON COMES TO ABIQUIU
From Chicago, Some Serious Business welcomes Elijah McKinnon to Abiquiu as part of its SSB Away artist residency project. Elijah will be hosted at Rocks, a residence just steps from the Rio Chama from July 19 to August lst. In our signature #FiftyQuestions series below, he gives us insights into his vision, influences, and dreams.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My artistic practice and activism sit at the intersections of healing, wellness, race, sexuality, gender, new media and storytelling. I examine and integrate systems that have been designed to deliver resources and references. Through a critically curious framework, I use my multidisciplinary training to call in social, political and cultural issues that perpetuate harm. Often referencing, Black feminist theory, my work explores the varying relationships between popular culture, joy, social justice, liberation, and resilience. At the time of this manifestation, I am currently building a social practice that creates space for Black LGBTQ+ people to engage in rest, cultivate a culture of health and heal deep wounds caused by generational trauma. Each project often consists of multilayered experiments rooted in the dismantling of harmful systems such as racism, transphobia, misogyny, capitalism and homophobia. While researching and building ecosystems new areas of inquiry arise and lead to mobilization of new ideas embedded in action and reverie.
Over my past seven years of living in Chicago I am proud of the community, platforms and initiatives I have played a role in building. As a cultural steward and creative laborer with a proven track-record of approaching every commitment with care and intentionality, It is a great honor and privilege to be at a place where I’m ready to apply all of the knowledge I have amassed into some new cultural initiatives that fuse my passions for justice, art, media, storytelling and community building. Through this residency, I wish to carve out intentional space to rest and recenter while continuing to explore new areas of inquiry including a residency program in Owerri, Nigeria for multidisciplinary LGBTQ+ artists of the diaspora and a feature-length documentary exploring substance abuse in LGBTQ+ communities.
ELIJAH MCKINNON ANSWERS SOME OF OUR #FIFTYQUESTIONS
What event or factor in your life has been the most pivotal in your decision to become a creator/activist/iconoclast/curator/?
Moving to Chicago between 2014-2015 and getting involved with community organizing taught me so much about my identity, power and legacy. Since I can remember, I have always been a very creative person but gaining the opportunity to fuse my lived-experiences with my political advocacy deeply informed the foundation of my practice. To this day, much of my practice references and borrows tactics and aesthetics from the Movement for Black Live (or #BlackLivesMatter), the Gay Liberation Movement and the Civil Rights Movement.
Describe your ideal workspace.
Clean. Minimal. Effervescent. Neutral. Soft. Comfortable.
What one sentence do you hope describes how your art practice will be recorded in history, and why?
Elijah’s artistic practice is centered around mobilizing ideas, dreams and concepts that push the world to, learn, share and grow.
In thinking of the lulls and gaps or lost places in your practice over the years, who or what has re-energized you?
Dreams and visions that spark urgent conversations or intentional curiosities.
Who of all the artists who have ever lived would you most love to share your work with? And why?
Marlon Riggs. There has never been a filmmaker that truly encapsulates the intersections of being an unapologetic gay Black man that used video and media to defy a culture of silence and shame. He spoke his truth using a bold mix of documentary, performance, poetry, and music to confront the devastating legacy of racists stereotypes, the impact of AIDS on the Black gay community, health and wellness and the very definition of what it means to be Black in America. I would love to share how much his work and legacy has informed the resounding joy and clarity I have for my practice.
If you could travel in time, within what era or milieu would you most like to have an artist residency? And why?
The future. Like Octavia E. Butler, my highest goal is to take shape with the stars.
Who or what would you most like to collaborate with?
Deceased: Essex Hemphill / Living: Telfar Clemens
Can you recall your first memory of bliss in self-expression?
Running through the sprinklers on a triple digit day with friends in my backyard.
How important is it to you that others connect and understand and appreciate your work?
It’s not important for people to understand, connect or appreciate my work. My practice is constantly evolving and I’m more committed to creating work that encourages my community to ask questions, explore their dreams and create space for healing. There is no room for my ego in these specific quests and therefore it isn’t relevant for others to have a deep connection, understanding or appreciation for the work.
If you could be anything besides an artist in human form, what would you like to be?
Teacher / Interior Designer / Restaurateur
ABOUT ELIJAH MCKINNON
Elijah McKinnon (they/them) is an award-winning artist, entrepreneur and visionary from the future currently residing on planet earth. They received a Bachelor of Science from the Art Institute of San Francisco in Marketing and Management. In addition to serving as the Founder and Creative Director of People Who Care, Inc. their Chicago-based consultancy and studio practice, Elijah is also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Emmy-nominated, intersectional web platform, OTV – Open Television and the Co-Founder and Development Director of project incubator and sliding scale venue for LGBTQ+/BIPOC individuals, Reunion Chicago. In 2020 they were announced as a recipient of the prestigious New Leaders of Chicago award by the Field Foundation of Illinois and MacArthur Foundation. In 2019, Elijah was recognized in New City’s Film 50 Issue as one of the Top 10 of 50 individuals changing the landscape of film in Chicago. In 2016 Elijah was named “Top 30 Under 30 LGBT People” in Chicago, Illinois by the Windy City Times and was invited to the inaugural African-American LGBTQ Education Summit at The White House. Elijah is currently preparing to launch their first feature-length film, THANDO that was filmed in South Africa and follows a Black queer couple that fall in and out of reality, love and more.
Curious about the #FiftyQuestions the artists had to choose from? See all of them here.