A male authority figure crumbles as he leads three young women toward a shattered monolith in Arghavan Khosravi’s lushly painted ‘Mesmerized, Listen to the Big Brother’ at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea. Though eerily uniform and restrained by shackles connected to earbuds around their necks, the women are real and may free themselves as the illusion ahead of them breaks apart. (On view through April 27th).
Kyle Meyer’s photodocumentary work with eSwatini’s (formerly Swaziland’s) HIV positive populations parallels a stunningly beautiful personal project shot with members of the country’s gay community and now on view at Chelsea’s Yossi Milo Gallery. After photographing men wrapped in scarves made of vibrant fabrics (chosen together at market), Meyer hand sliced the scarf fabric, weaving it into a photo that both protects the sitter’s identity while declaring his existence. (On view through Dec 8th).
Using patterns scanned and printed from her collection of vintage kimonos, Chicago-based artist Mayumi Lake creates floral abstractions – adding a fringe of beads and other elements – that mix tradition and contemporary life. Designed to resemble huge flowers that might decorate a sacred place, the blooms grow in size and color in proportion to life’s difficulties. (On view at Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery in Chelsea through May 25th).
Lewis Hine’s early 20th century photos of young women employed in Boston’s textile mills – which aimed to show the deleterious effects of their labor on their bodies – accompany images like this magnification of a textile fragment in Lisa Oppenheim’s latest show at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. By zeroing in on this fragment of fabric, Oppenheim aims to reduce the distance created in industrial production between bodies and the products of their labor. (In Chelsea through Oct 21st).
British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare celebrates ethnic diversity in British literature with ‘The British Library,’ an installation of books written by British authors from around the globe. Wrapped in Shonibare’s signature fabric – Dutch prints derived from Indonesian batik and sold to West African markets – the volumes bear silent testimony to the beauty of difference. (At James Cohan Gallery’s Chelsea location through March 18th).
