ExTV Presents: Monthly Artist Spotlight (April/May)

We’d like to introduce the April/May participant in our monthly program that highlights the work of a student artist every month and seeks to create a larger conversation and sense of community through featuring their work/practice. This program has three components: an online program of a selection of the artist’s works (accessible above), a highlighted presence of the artist across ExTV’s social media, and a live conversation/ Q&A with the artist to round off the feature.

Rain Shanks

Fourth Year Undergrad in VCS

Rain Shanks (she/her) is a visual artist and writer based in Chicago. Her work is centered around reclamation. Reclamation of her Xicanx culture, of her queerness, of her spirituality, and body. Her work often lives on the intersection of theory and art, as she uses her own experiences to magnify questions about identity, sexuality, and ways of being.

The artist talk will be on May 7th at 5PM CST on Zoom.

Zoom Link: [MEETING PASSED]

Here is the information for the program available to view above:

bottleneck events, 2019
 
bottleneck events explores the notion of genetic health and race. Some doctors, scientists, the CDC say that “Hispanic” people are more prone to diabetes because their ancestors had experienced famine, and thus developed genes that made it more advantageous to keep extra fat. Is this true or is this a decontextualization of the issues of health care access, food access, and generational wealth that affects these communities?
 
 
bodies like broken code., 2019
 
Two people try to decolonize and fall in love.
 
 
the serpent guards my garden, 2020
 
the serpent guards my garden is about the connection between snakes, the indigenous, and the feminine divine. Before Christian colonization, snakes were associated with ancestors, protectors of the harvest, pest control. The demonization of snakes was the demonization of the indigenous, now we see images of La Virgen de Guadalupe stepping on snakes. The most visited Catholic holy site is Basilica de Guadalupe, built on top of Tepeyac. This is where Guadalupe appeared to Saint Deigo, a native man. Before this Tepeyac was a site to worship Coatlicue, an Aztec mother goddess who’s name means “skirt of snakes”. 
 
pink, 2020
 
pink explores pleasure, pain, and pink.
 
 
 
 
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