Eshan Rafi first became acquainted with the Mojave desert through spending time in community at Dhamma Dena, a queer and BIPOC meditation center. Through long stretches of time spent in silence, as well as doing daily tasks such as folding laundry, vacuuming, and cooking and sharing meals with others, Rafi developed a deep appreciation for the rhythm and character of the desert. During their residency at BoxoPROJECTS, they brought their interdisciplinary practice to queerly relating to the land, in collaboration with Sakura Sky Kelley, an artist based in Twentynine Palms. Rafi and Kelley explored different methods of collecting and archiving their experiences, with considerations of what it means to respectfully relate to land and site as settler people of colour. They documented their process through writing and still images, and presented their works in process at an open studio on March 30, 2024.

Eshan and Sky also offered programming in the form of two reading groups and a workshop under the rubric Desert Parade. The first reading group held on Tuesday March 19, 20204, offered the opportunity to locate oneself on land and its representation: landscape. The workshop offered on Saturday March 23, 2024, helped participants see how they can somatically, imaginatively and socially experience the more-than-human elements of the landscape (rocks, reptiles, insects, cacti, and so on). Through drawing, re-ordering, and discussion, they created new systems and relationships that contrasted with those systems portrayed in traditional texts describing the region. The second reading group on March 26, 2024, attempted to answer the question “Can art world resources be leveraged for more than symbolic statements?,” and also considered the seminal essay Decolonization is not a metaphor by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang.

Biographies:

Eshan Rafi (b. 1986, Lahore) is a Chicago-based artist working across expanded photography, performance, installation, and video art.  They have participated in residencies at Fondazioni Antonio Ratti in Como, Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art in Berlin, and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, among others. Their work has been exhibited, performed and screened internationally including at Links Hall, Chicago; SummerWorks Lab, Toronto; Sharjah Film Platform; M:ST 9 Performance Art Biennale, Calgary and neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin. Rafi’s artistic practice rests on a history of community organizing in queer of color communities, including working in collectives to develop decolonial and anti-racist pedagogies. Their work has been extensively supported by the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts, as well as by the generosity of queer and BIPoC communities. Rafi is an alumni of the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan in Beirut, and holds an MFA in Art, Theory and Practice from Northwestern University. eshanrafi.com/

Sakura Sky Kelley is an American and second generation artist. As an artist they are interested in: photography, photobooks, queerness, radical environmentalism, POC centered imagination, beauty. They have exhibited in various places including Clamp Art Gallery (New York City), Taq’s Knot (Tokyo), Blanc Gallery (Quezon City, Philippines), and Center for Sex and Culture (San Francisco). Some of their work can be found at sakurakelley.com. As an instructor, Sky has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University, and Artists’ Literacies Institute. They have an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in Photography. Sky is also a co-founder of an emerging publishing entity, AUSTERITY PARTY PARTY. They currently live and work in the desert region near Joshua Tree National Park, California.