all modes are open to us

All Modes Are Open to Us

All Modes Are Open to Us imagines new forms of “queer magic” through themes of domestic life, archives, and decoration in the work of Philadelphia artist Amy Cousins and Kansas City educator and printmaker Ruben Castillo.

Each artist took inspiration from decades-old archives, Cousins from 1970s issues of Country Women magazine and Castillo from one woman’s collection of Kansas City Star headlines from the 1930s through 1980s. Both of those archives operate within a mainstream feminine framework while drawing viewers’ attention to alternative forms of connection and sexuality – exactly what this exhibition aims to do.

Cousins’ works feature quilts that join patterned textiles she created from her garden’s plants and fungi with block-printed scenes of her home life stitched with language from Country Women as well as her own writing. Castillo presents digitally restitched wallpaper patterns inspired by the headline collection alongside other textual artifacts to build cross-generational connections of love, loss, and hope.

all modes are open to us

All Modes Are Open to Us

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