Amina Ross—Sunroom Project Space 2022

2022 New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellow Amina Ross creates videos, sculptures, sound installations and situations that consider the body, place and self to reexamine systems of power and develop survival strategies for black, queer, trans and femme communities. In the Sunroom, Ross’s multisensory environment comprises elements out of reclaimed materials in dialogue with the architecture of the space, markedly, the arched windows, along with video and audio. Extending their interest in "the underground" from Man’s Country about a former queer bathhouse, Ross’s current project creates a realm for marginalized figures to exist and thrive in safety and exercise agency. Exploring vulnerability and resiliency, Ross draws connections with nature, in particular, hierbas amargas (bitter herbs), root systems and soil to investigate the preparation of spiritual baths, subterranean networks of communication, and emotively tending to the earth. Ross’s installation conflates the natural and artificial, dissonance and harmony, invisibility and visibility, and the past and present.

As part of this Fellowship program, Ross also participates in the 2022 Winter Workspace.