"BATH: a queer community care data manifesto"
Artist Statement
"BATH: a queer community data driven manifesto" is a gentle exploration of community grief in a time of social isolation. The zine features the results of a Queer focused 100-person survey around experiences of loss, community, and healing and features stories from participants, data and writing. The objective of this research is to inform new care rituals that shift discourse from self to community.
Biography
Leo Alas is a contemporary artist from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, Calif. Through photography, painting, performance and writing, Leo captures serenity in solitude and strength in community. Their work journeys into world building and Queer political imagination, exploring what is possible, what is potent and what is beautiful, in an effort to find healing and joy in late-stage capitalism.
Leo studied fine arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2017, Leo was a featured artist on the sociological research project “Working for Dignity” where their Working Women series was showcased in the Santa Cruz, Museum of Art and History as the local exhibition paired alongside Hung Liu’s “We Who Work.” In 2016, they were awarded the Porter Fellowship Grant.
Currently, Leo is attending Otis School of Art and Design in pursuit of an MFA with a concentration in art + social practice.
Curated by The Women's Center for Creative Work
Curator's Statement
"Over the past year, WCCW, like many arts and community centers, has had to meet the challenge of bringing our programming from a physical space into a digital one. When it came to selecting the artists and work to feature here, we wanted to create a process that would bring the same kind of community warmth as past events in our physical space, and that would provide a showcase of more than just three artists selected by us—because, as this project continues to bring to light, L.A. is bursting with smart, thoughtful, thrilling artists, making work that changes us. It also felt important that we invite our community to help us make those choices. So, we made an open call for proposals and hosted a digital event that we called L.A.'s Feminist Idol to show the proposals to the public. WCCW judges, Kamala Puligandla and Mandy Harris Williams, selected two projects and the third was selected by viewers.
Leo Alas is presenting a digital zine on grief and healing they created in queer community, featuring stories, survey results and beautiful, original illustrations."
