E. Jane | ☆MHYSA☆

WHEN I THINK OF HOME, I THINK OF A BAG, 2022

“[…]Release Control commences with an echoing, knocking set of drum beats as Jane duets with their own altered voice, seemingly keeping in time with a shadow twin.“ - Hubert Adjei-Kontoh for @thewiremagazine 🥰

At Pioneer Works, MHYSA performed with a full band, in a set that features a live video feed projected through both a lenticular and prism lens. These refractive apparatuses transform the performers’ bodily contours into ghostly silhouettes, casting a deliberately veiled and mediated image on stage. In doing so, the artist invites audience members to question the expectations of hyper-visibility so often imposed on Black divas and femmes. MHYSA: Release Control was commissioned by Pioneer Works, and curated by @janeursulaharris as the second installment of her HERETICS series, which presents works by performance artists who straddle a music-fine art divide. 📸 @wlodarczyk , Courtesy of @pioneerworks *language from @pioneerworks press release.

i’m home in Brooklyn this summer and doing some cute MHYSA pop-outs while i write these new songs 🙂 ☆ come see me @traderockstar and @stemlines monday july 1st , 7pm @microscope_gallery , tickets $20, space limitedddddd, tickets to stream the show also available for ppl who can’t be there. i’ll be supported by @chuki_now on stage💕💕 flier by @traderockstar ☆ then I’m at @paragonbroadway august 23rd for @hyperdubrecords 20 year anniversary doing a b2b with @chuki_now in the basement. i’ll be playing with thot fantasy energy, my desire to shake my ass, and giving the cdjs some attention. get ur tickets now!! it’s gonna be a fun summer. hope to see you out x

Outtakes from the @elephantmagazine shoot last August with @guarionex_jr lost that bracelet/love these photos

My birthday was last weekend and I finally found a copy of @elephantmagazine 💜💜💜💜 Thank you all for your sweet birthday wishes. I had so much fun and felt so much warmth throughout the weekend ✨ Photos of me by @guarionex_jr and words by @mekachu

during my session at @recessart , i realized no one has seen me make lavendra/recovery videos, not even chukwumaa. when i first applied to work on this project at recess around 7 years ago, i told myself i could easily make my reperformance videos in front of an audience. i imagined people watching me and me, somewhat of an exhibitionist, able to keep going and ignore them. but i was so wrong. maybe it is expectation—but no, i perform on stages and have since i was 4…maybe it’s because these videos stem from bedroom performances that are private daydreams/conversations with the divas you call on for strength and honesty. maybe i need a private space to explore a femininity that feels performative at its core. maybe the stage creates a sense of privacy that the gallery cannot where you can easily be accessed. on stage, perhaps you become more than yourself but in the gallery it is just you the human doing performative maybe more than human things…still you are expected to be accessible by the space…i’ve found that the public residency often maintains or tries to live up to this expectation of access the window covering was super functional for me. even though i worked mostly at hours when no one was in the building, i was still visible from the street. the window covering became a boundary; it barely hid me with all the sheer fabrics but gave me just enough privacy to feel hidden. i wanted to feel safe while also navigating the constant request people in contemporary art have of artists to be hypervisible, to show process, to be generous in exchange for institutional support… the domestic objects we brought into the space also helped me trick myself into thinking i was just in a big bedroom functioning as a studio like i had back in philly when i started this work. i’m glad i did this experiment and i’m plotting on what type of residencies i’ll need to continue making this work with support…it’s giving private live/work spaces but we will see

@kearramaya Terra Nullius (2018-2019), video, sound. On view @ocdchinatown in ‘I am standing here surrounded by so much beauty’ w/@chelseaaf1 , @kearramaya , @glorious_nobodies , @freddie.june and @elleperex . A curatorial offering by me 🌹 The show is open until July 14th. The gallery is open Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6pm and I’m giving tours Thursday and Fridays from 1-4pm by appointment. Dm me, text me. I will definitely be there Thursday June 13th at 3pm. Make your plans 🗓️

i’ve been so busy with the show at @ocdchinatown i haven’t had time to process my session at @recessart until now. i felt so shy this spring while making videos for Lavendra/Recovery in a semi-public workspace, because the work feels so vulnerable. showing joy and humor feels vulnerable. contending with the camera’s violent gaze and trying to shift that gaze feels vulnerable. i worked at odd hours to find private moments where i felt safe giving in to the process of making the work.

🌸I am standing here surrounded by so much beauty: @chelseaaf1 , @kearramaya , @glorious_nobodies , @freddie.june and @elleperex . On view until July 14th @ocdchinatown . The gallery is open 12-6 pm sat and sun and I will be giving tours during the week. Dm me, text me. I’m most available Thurs + Fridays from 2-4pm. I want to thank everyone that came to the opening last Thursday and everyone that saw the show throughout the weekend 🌹. I curated a show featuring artists whose explorations of video and film I really enjoy, with a focus on works that evoke or interrogate site. I’m so grateful to be able place my work in conversation with these artists who I admire so much 😭 Thank you @ocdchinatown for giving me the space to do this 🥰 Thanks to @paulapart for all their install work, including installing the sound panels. Thank you @chuki_now for giving advice on how to best treat the space for sound. Video can be trickier to install than you think and we figured it out! And especially thanks to the artists for trusting me to share and write about their work. Very excited to facilitate and share new work in a video show in New York which we desperately need more of at the moment imo. 😭😭😭😭 photo and video documentation by @richmcd

gemini szn energy

felt cute and wanted to remind you that i curated a show opening tonight @ocdchinatown ‘i am standing here surrounded by so much beauty’ is a video screening space featuring video works by @chelseaaf1 @kearramaya @elleperex @freddie.june and yours truly 🌸 come celebrate with me tonight 6-8pm also i wrote a little something contextualizing the show. You can read it on @ocdchinatown website🔗