On Tuesday January 7, 2020 at 11:30 a.m. Amanda Clem interviews Ebenezer Galluzzo about his upcoming exhibition As I Am, a celebration of gender non-conformity and performativity, opening Friday January 10 at PCC Paragon Gallery.
Ebenezer is a gender nonconforming trans man, mother, husband, witch and artist living in Portland, Oregon. He is an artist primarily working with photography, and has participated in numerous exhibitions in the United States, including solo shows in Astoria and Portland, Oregon, and was recently a part of Blue Sky Gallery’s Blue Sky Ahead: Futures exhibition and is part of this year’s Pacific Northwest Drawers (you will be able to see ten images also from this series AS I AM, in the drawers through March 2020)
This project began as a way to witness the truth of my gender expression and morphed into a celebration of myself, my power, and embracing of my trans identity. The photographic series, As I Am, evolved from my process of coming out as a trans man. These self-portraits and the process of creating them became a refuge from the judgmental words that inhabited my mind, limiting my ability to listen to the wisdom of my body.
Historically, photography is a medium that has been associated with capturing reality, documenting truth. Unfortunately, not everyone has been written into the stories of our history. As trans existence and experiences are continually scrutinized, questioned, and erased, trans cultural reality can disappear. With my self-portraits I make the multitude of my experiences visible and valid. The process of composing, printing, and subsequent additions of paint and collage have helped me unravel my truth from an imposed binary gender system of dominant culture that tells me my existence is unnatural.
Body postures, color, symbols, emotions, objects are gendered in our culture and imposed on us from the moment of our birth in accordance with our genitalia. My images challenge these gender norms, while seeking new possibilities for existence through dynamic contradiction. Contradiction opens a new path for me to what is possible.
Each photograph, in the time between printing and completion, occupies a liminal space within me. Within this liminal space the story of each photograph unfolds revealing my internalized assumptions, judgements, and personal truth. When I add paper, paint, objects, gold leaf – transforming the original image I am creating a photograph which counters shame with pride. For me, each portrait blesses the full existence of my trans identity while honoring the time it has taken me to open to a deepening self-acceptance. – Ebenezer Galluzzo
- Exhibition Dates: January 10 – February 8, 2020
- Opening Reception: Friday, January 10, 2020, 5 – 8 pm, artist talk at 6 pm
- Photography Brown Bag Talk – Ebenezer Galluzzo at the Portland Art Museum, Wednesday, January 15, 2020, noon – 1 pm
- “Queer Space in the Art World” – Conversation with Ebenezer Galluzzo, Princess Bouton and Shameka Gagnier; Film screening by Princess Bouton & Sculptures by Shameka Gagnier; Saturday, February 1, 2020, 2 – 4 pm, at the Paragon Gallery.
Free admission
Paragon Arts Gallery
815 N. Killingsworth
https://www.pcc.edu/galleries/2019/12/29/as-i-am-by-ebenezer-galluzzo/
Follow Ebenezer on instagram @photo.galluzzo https://www.instagram.com/photo.galluzzo/
- KBOO