Courtesy of Kelvin Burzon
“Noli Me Tangere,” an exhibition by artist Kelvin Burzon, will be on check out Aug. 30-Dec. 10 at Level of Speak to Gallery. Admission is cost-free and open to the general public Mon.-Fri., noon-5 p.m. or by appointment, with correct social distancing and facial area masks worn above the nose and mouth. Guided tours will be obtainable almost or on request.
Kelvin Burzon is a Filipino-American artist whose do the job explores intersections of sexuality, race, gender and faith. As a child rising up in a Filipino tradition, Burzon’s initial ambition was to turn into a Catholic priest. “I have often been fascinated in the religion’s function in society and familial associations and have been drawn to the religion’s traditions, imagery, theatricality, and its psychological vestige,” claims Burzon. His operate is encouraged by cerebral influences expanding up in and around the church. “My cultural and familial id, my reminiscences as a kid, can’t be separated from the church. It was an integral component of what it intended to be Filipino,” Burzon adds.
Burzon received MFA diploma from Indiana University’s College of Artwork + Structure, in which he created his most new bodies of work. There, he was a undertaking member of the African American Dance Firm, where by he flourished in a collaborative overall performance outlet. This outlet blossomed pursuits in significant race idea, photography’s position in people’s social identities, storytelling, archival gaps and overall performance. Burzon gained a bachelor’s diploma from Wabash School, where he researched studio art and audio. There, he became versed in painting, sculpture, ceramics and photography. He researched new music background, violin and piano functionality, vocal overall performance and yrs of ethnomusicology.
Burzon carries on to drive his perform with inspirations from the previous, recontextualized naratives and imagery of religion, paired with the never ever-ending stimulation and inspiration from the LGBTQ+ community. He seeks to push the limits of his function by visually redefining and producing a new narrative for himself and people like him.
“Noli Me Tangere,” “touch me not” or “don’t tread on me,” (Latin) is a sequence of photographs that examines an internal conflict of homosexuality and Catholicism. The photographs tackle, but don’t purpose to clear up, the contentions between religion and homosexuality. Employing appropriated spiritual imagery and language, the do the job is recontextualized by the insertion of LGBTQ members and activists posing as Catholic deities. Themes, lights and coloration procedure are adopted from the is effective of Renaissance artists. The photographs are then presented as polyptychs in the type of Catholic altarpieces.
This application is achievable thanks to the guidance of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Place of work of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Neighborhood, and the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse College, and is section of the University’s Humanities Middle 2021-2022 Symposium “Conventions.”