September 2022 / Ballast

Ballast

Mazen Khaddaj
Valerie Viera
Elizabeth Seibel
quinn mcnichol
Le'Ecia Farmer
Madeleine Dietrich

September 01 – October 02, 2022
Opening Reception / Thursday, September 01, 5–8pm

Summer/Covid-19 Gallery Hours:
Friday–Sunday, 12–5pm

Ballast highlights works from BIPOC and artists of marginalized genders, exploring themes of queer identity and self-discovery during lockdown. Six creators express this revelatory feeling through a range of media: from fibers and ceramics to video portraiture, to painting and installation. Thematically, each work represents a unique perspective, how each artist processes and continues to create over the past two years.

The current landscape has pushed us to confront submerged pieces of ourselves. The threat of mortality has caused many of us to seize opportunities and take steps that we planned to pursue in the future. “Someday” became closer, and an urgent call to action was received.

Untethered, a kind of heaviness set in. A sense of grounding through prolonged periods of isolation lead to moments of clarity. In solitude, performance stops, and we begin to focus inward. Who are we, when no one is watching? The veneer of gender performance falls away. Without distraction, we fully form and re-form parts of ourselves.

Through this period of introspection, we are able to examine old wounds and heal new ones, breaking out of former patterns. We question if what we previously pursued was a product of the limited options presented to us, or truly what we care to devote our time and energy to. Realizing how we want to see ourselves and move in the world, we make space for change.

ARTIST BIOS /

Mazen Khaddaj is a multidisciplinary Lebanese artist working in painting, performance, video art, and installation in Berlin, Germany. 

Khaddaj’s piece, “The Artists Are Not Present” examines isolation in an empty studio space at an international residency in Leipzig, Germany, where he was the only artist able to attend the program. This video installation is an emotional record of this period of quarantine. Khaddaj’s feelings swung between freedom and loneliness, disappointment and fear, while his body was bound by the space and materials at hand.

Valerie Viera is an agender Colombian-American multidisciplinary artist based in Olympia, WA. Through fluid movements, their work connects to visceral memories, deeper ancestral knowledge, the interceptive landscape of their body, and a reverence for the rich materials of the natural world. 

Creating “White Vessel” aided in releasing anger from microaggressions at their workplace, feelings of dysphoria, isolation, and resentment towards a newfound lack of capacity.

Elizabeth Seibel (she/they) is a queer mixed race femme artist and care worker born and raised in the outskirts of so-called Seattle (Duwamish territory). Their art practice brings them many things: a place of belonging, community, joy, inspiration, and healing. A printmaker at heart, Elizabeth is inspired by the ways we can use art as a tool for cultural change. 

“Bodies of Resistance” is part of Seibel’s current body of work, inspired by artists of the past and present who use their artistic voice to represent the People and document the times that they find themselves in.

quinn mcnichol is a multidisciplinary artist based in Seattle, WA. Their medicinal herb garden grows slowly, protected by mugwort and yarrow. Their morning practice of reading tarot cards foretells the message or meaning of a day. In the studio, folk music, news streams and daydreams merge with these narratives, carving the foundation for a creative practice that examines an embodied experience of interacting with plants and other humans. 

Through this visual examination of what exists inside of and around them, they heal from pain that has become stuck in their body, becoming a part of the greater healing that this hurting earth longs for.

Le'Ecia Farmer is a multimedia artist based in Seattle, Wa. ”The Desquamation of Everything I Built Up for the World To See” and “The Self in Mitosis” are slightly uncomfortable and grotesque pieces, alluding to the raw and abrupt feelings of desire, pain and joy that arise in the body during periods of isolation.

Le'Ecia enjoys experimenting with pushing the boundaries of form. She explores various mediums such as textiles, natural dye, film, sculpture and paint. Their works interact with charged materials, dissecting implications and refabricating them in a floating space and time. Le'Ecia draws inspiration from the overt and covert connections between her cultural experience and art practice.

Madeleine Dietrich (they/them) is a mixed-media artist and organizer. They use paint and various drawing materials to visually diarize their grief for past selves and recent life experiences in their series “Rebirth”.

Dietrich’s layered, visceral shapes reveal new identities while honoring remnants of the past, holding space for trauma and restoration. Connection and collaboration are central to Dietrich’s creative practices, bringing cultural, community-oriented events to both white box galleries and non-traditional spaces.