Hair Passport Project

Ruby City recognized 53 participants from the local San Antonio community in the form of taking their “hair portrait.” The photographs were taken in a uniform presentation that highlighted the unique qualities of the subjects hair, underlining the diversity within our community.

“…living as we do in the direction of water body as body of experience body of art body not…

-Segment of poetry from “In the dark let your eyes adjust” by Jenny Browne

Themes of femininity, diversity and the body are central to the artworks on view in the exhibition titled, Reclaimed.  Hair is a reoccurring theme that reveals diverse qualities, both culturally and generationally. This common thread is seen in the exhibition’s works by Lorraine O’Grady, Annette Messager, Kiki Smith, Judy Dater and Tracey Rose.
 

Inspired by hair as subject matter, we partnered with Gemini Ink and Twirl hair salon to develop a program titled, “Hair Passports.”  The program brought together friends and faces from different facets of the San Antonio community whose hair portraits were taken by photographer Josh Huskin. A live poetry reading was recited by Jenny Browne and music was performed by harpist, Rachel Ferris.

“Questions for the contestants include: What do you remember about leaving the light on? About being surrounded? What do you call the sky between the trees?

-Segment of poetry from “In the dark let your eyes adjust” by Jenny Browne

With the artist, BLUM Gallery, Los Angeles gifted 5 sculptures by Anya Gallaccio that mimic key minimalist sculptures of large-scale freestanding cubes or portions of cubes. They are made, however, from stones found in Texas such as limestone, granite and sandstone that have been sliced as though wood and fitted together. These stones embody, according to Gallaccio, geologic time given the inherent age of the rocks and the fossils often found within them. She poetically, and from a feminist perspective, reinterprets this Minimalist sculptural form, imbuing it with natural and geological forces. This gesture counters the severe forms—devoid of context or history—as well as the machine fabricated nature of works typically associated with Minimalism. 

Alice Kosmin remains a steadfast donor inspired by the Foundation/Ruby City’s mission of providing access to contemporary art for all. In 2023 she gifted 28 works in her and her late husband’s name, Marvin, including photography, painting, drawing, video, and sculpture. Many bolster the Foundation’s holdings related to politically motivated or conceptually driven works, or those related to identity. Among the works she gifted are those by Nicole Eisenman, Valie Export, Emily Jacir, Kim Jones, Sean Landers, Charles LeDray, Annette Lemieux, Paul Pfeiffer, Jon Pylypchuk, Tim Rollins + KOS, Allen Ruppersberg, Laurie Simmons and Allan McCollum, and Sue Williams. 

Mona Hatoum will be present for the opening of Water Ways, a group exhibition in which her work is featured. At the public opening on Saturday, September 9th @ 2pm Hatoum will participate in an informal exhibition walk through with Director Elyse A. Gonzales, followed by a public reception from 3-5pm which will feature music and refreshments. 

Mona Hatoum was born into a Palestinian family in Beirut, Lebanon in 1952 and has lived and worked in London since 1975. Her work has been the subject of numerous solo museum exhibitions including: KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2022-23); Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin (2022-23); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2022); Magasin III, Stockholm (2022); Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, touring to Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO (2017-18); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, touring to Tate Modern, London and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2015-16); Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2014); Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (2012); Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice (2009); Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2005); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, touring to Magasin III, Stockholm and Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (all 2004); Tate Britain, London (2000); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (1999); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, touring to New Museum, New York (1997). She has also participated in numerous important group exhibitions including Documenta 14, Kassel, Germany and Athens (both 2017); 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006); 51st Venice Biennale (2005); Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany (2002); and The Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate Britain, London (1995). Among other awards, Hatoum has received the Praemium Imperiale awarded by the Japan Art Association (2019), the 10th Hiroshima Art Prize (2017) and the Joan Miró Prize (2011). Her work can be found in collections throughout the world.

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