Markele Cullins (he/they) lives and works in Los Angeles, California, USA.
astheylay.life
There is a rich post-war tradition of self-organised artists’ spaces. Baltimore, with its upcoming art scene, hardly beaten by years of crisis, in many ways resembles Athens with its artists’ initiatives, collectives and the rise of the undercommons. According to Moten and Harney, the undercommons is not a realm where we rebel and we create critique; it is not a place where we “take arms against a sea of troubles/and by opposing end them.” The undercommons is a space and time which is always here. Our goal – and the ‘we’ is always the right mode of address here – is not to end the troubles but to end the world that created those particular troubles as the ones that must be opposed. Abdu Ali, the queer performance artist and musician, shifted their practice by blending in that of the cultural worker and organiser, by embracing Radical Care. Abdu Ali created as they lay, which soon became a point of reference, a hub, a nomadic curatorial initiative for fellow Black queer and trans artists, a breeding space for counter ideologies. By creating space for marginalised artists, Abu Ali enhanced their own performative practice; by stretching and becoming more and more encompassing, a culture of softness emerged. In their words: To be soft is to feel and to be soft is to be free.
Soft & Solid: Fugitive Harmonies in Pursuit of Home, 2021
Performance and installation series
Dimensions and duration variable
Courtesy of the artists
Commissioned and produced by the Athens Biennale
Abdu Ali and Markele Cullins
Close to Home, 2021
Single channel video, 8’50’’
Courtesy of the artists
Abdu Ali and Karryl Eugene
Imagining as Praxis, 2020
Single channel video, 4’03’’
Courtesy of the artists
Abdu Ali and Markele Cullins
Embracing the Joy a Little While Longer, 2021
Collage printed on Satin fabric, candles, flower stems, and photographs in gold
frames
Courtesy of the artists
Commissioned and produced by the Athens Biennale
The Feminine, The Feminine, The Feminine Ha I, 2021
Performance, 32’00’’
Courtesy of the artists
Commissioned and produced by the Athens Biennale
The Feminine, The Feminine, The Feminine Ha II, 2021
Performance, 32’00’’
Courtesy of the artists
Commissioned and produced by the Athens Biennale