Chromatic Saturation: Sondra Perry

March 18 – April 29, 2018
Photos by Mario Gallucci

Disjecta is proud to announce the fourth and final exhibition of this season’s Curator in Residence series, led by Julia Greenway. Sondra Perry’s Chromatic Saturation explores the intersection of technology and black history through sculptural and installation works. Examining “blackness as a technology, changing and adapting, through the constant surveillance and oppression of black folks.” Perry formulates identity through familial history and digital representations of the body.

Chroma-key blue and Chroma-key green, color hues used in video and gaming production, are painted on opposing walls between Perry’s projected video works. Executed in two channels, Lineage for a Multiple-Monitor Workstation: Number One combines family documentary with staged performance. Directly across the gallery, IT’S IN THE GAME ‘17 or Mirror Gag for Vitrine and Projection follows the avatar of Perry’s twin brother exploring 3D rendered artifacts in the MET and British History Museums. Positioned between the two works sits TK 1, TK 4, and TK 5, the newest iteration of Perry’s sculptural works. The objects are comprised of shot trainers, stationary equipment for basketball training and video monitors, allowing viewers to interface with the video through specific placement of their bodies.

Through the portrayal of lineage as documentary and 3D rendered avatar, Perry examines the impact of digital media in formulating identity. Referencing the materials and color palettes of open source 3D design, the artist responds to gaming and sports platforms that capitalize on and simulate black bodies. Utilizing a semi-autobiographical familial narrative, Perry immerses the viewer in a unique navigation of personhood.

Sondra Perry (b. 1986) is an artist working in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Currently, Perry has a solo exhibition on view at the Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, Washington and Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London. In 2016, she presented a solo exhibition at The Kitchen in New York. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions at venues including the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2017); Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2017); The New Museum, New York (2017); Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York (2016); The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2015); and MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York (2015). Spanning the last five years, Perry has screened her videos and presented talks at institutions including the Vera List Center at The New School, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and The Artist’s Institute, New York, among others.