Thursday, June 9, 2022, 6–7 p.m.
Queering the Collection: Gender Fluidity and Buddhist Deities
Gender fluidity can be traced back several centuries and across cultures. In Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara (Chinese: Guanyin) is a gender-fluid bodhisattva, or divine being, who has put off enlightenment in order to first help humanity. In this program, multidisciplinary artist and community activist Abdu Ali will be in dialogue with Dany Chan, Associate Curator of Asian Art at the Walters, in a unique event that combines art historical and artistic perspectives of this deity. This conversation between curator and artist will expand understanding of images of Avalokiteshvara on display in the Walters collection and will connect to contemporary viewpoints about gender fluidity and representation.
Visitors will meet at the Centre Street entrance lobby or Upper Charles Street entrance lobby. Note: The closest accessible entrance to the program location is the Upper Charles Street entrance lobby.
Registration required. Capacity is limited.
About the Guest Speaker
Abdu Ali is a Baltimore-based electronic musician, writer, cultural worker and multidisciplinary artist who works in sound, collaboration, video and performance. Their work often interrogates ideas of race, gender, and sexuality that manifests as poetic inquiries of identity, promoting liberation from oppressive ideologies and encouraging self-marginalized peoples to be self-determined. Ali’s work also centers promoting authentic Black queer legacies and narratives as their histories are often subjected to distortion and erasure. Described as a cosmic, punk, and soulful tempest on stage, Ali has performed their energetic and visceral shows at MoMA PS1, The Carnegie Museum of Art, and The Kennedy Center, and their work has been highlighted by The New York Times, The Fader, Elephant Magazine, and Tracks Arte TV. In 2019, Ali founded as they lay, a curatorial platform that claims space for critical dialogue, collaboration and radical envisioning for Black creative futures. Ali has held residencies at Red Bull Music, Pioneer Works, and in 2022 was a visiting artist at the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University. Ali was also a recipient of the 2018 Ruby Artist Grant.
Photo by Sidney Allen
