VOX POPULI XVIII: Oil of Milk

Vox Populi’s annual Juried Exhibition

Curated by Nirvana Santos-Kuilan

Opening Reception: Friday, July 7, 2023 | 6-9pm | Free-To-Attend
Friday, July 7, 2023 – Sunday, August 6, 2023
Presented in Galleies 1, 2, and 3 at Vox Populi

About the Exhibition

VOX XVIII: Oil of Milk is Vox Populi’s 18th annual juried exhibition, featuring work by 28 contemporary artists selected by Nirvana Santos-Kuilan, Brooklyn-based educator and independent curator, from a pool of 300 applications.

From the Curator:
Oil of Milk features the work of 28 local and international artists whose practices explore concepts of the body, kinship, selfhood, and desire through haptic and evocative use of materials. The exhibition takes its title from the magician’s prop of the same name, a substance that mimics the qualities of milk, creating the opportunity for visual trickery. This speaks to both the ways in which the artists in this exhibition employ strategies of transformation, while also evoking the biological and visceral associations of these words. Re-appropriation of images, objects, and language become essential tools for reclamation. Emphasis is placed on malleability – through hybrid forms and functions and the dissolution of boundaries between corporeal and immaterial. With practices spanning painting, sculpture, video, and photography these artists push their respective media through playful experimentation, questioning viewers’ perceptions and building a language of their own.

Artist List

Min Baek
Constance Brady
Anna Campbell
Rex Delafkaran
Elicia Epstein
Kiani Ferris
Ron Geibel
Sarena Johnson
Halo Lahnert
Francesca Lally
Heather Lyon
Maddie May
Sarah Mihara Creagen
Henry Morales
Shaina Nasrin
Thatiana Oliveria
Tania Qurashi
Adrienne Reynolds
Rita Scheer
Jennifer Scheuer
Abed Elmajid Shalabi
Morgan Shankweller
Chenxi Shao
Saar Shemesh
M Slater
Janie Stamm
Brandon Aquino Straus
Dave Tavacol
Loretta Violante

About the Curator

Nirvana Santos-Kuilan is a Brooklyn-based educator and independent curator. She is currently the Program Manager & Curator at the NARS Foundation, an International Residency Program based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Previously, she organized public programming at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. There, she co-curated the exhibition Not Me, Not That, Not Nothing Either which explored bodily fragmentation as a strategy in constructing queer selfhood. Nirvana Santos-Kuilan has held positions at the Museum of Arts and Design and the Brooklyn Museum.