Vickie Aravindhan (Los Angeles, CA) | November 2021

This second iteration of a Yali (Hindu temple dragon) lives here as a guardian of future passages in response to Edison Peñafiel's piece, Ni Aqui, Ni Alla (neither here nor there) in this room, protecting the subjects' backs in the projection who are on a perpetual journey. As someone who is in the process of immigrating to United States as well as being a granddaughter to 4 immigrant peoples from South India and South China to Singapore, she found many of the themes she continues to explore, intersecting with Peñafiel's investigations on diaspora, forgotten histories and of subjugated knowledge as a result of colonialism. The Yali is also a commonly found cultural symbol/object often stolen or removed as artifacts and placed in a museological context with very little information on their origin stories. In this case, the Yali serves as a steward and guardian in Elsewhere's living body.

Richard Moreno (Miami, FL) | October 2021

The Coffin of Curiosities was inspired by the artist's body of work. Moreno's practice explores elements of diy culture, community, and mysticism through the lenses of Metal and Punk cultures. A coffin shaped bench was found in the third floor of the museum, and transformed into a musical instrument and cabinet of sorts with installed shelves and speakers. Stairs were built to raise the bench up and allow the audience to climb up and sit on it, as well as pull pieces from the museum collection to fill the shelves and stairs. Knives and paint markers were also provided for the residents and visitors of Elsewhere to deface and carve into the piece making it their own.In this piece Richard flips the normal process of viewership, allowing the audience to be both performer and artist, creating a space for experimentation, and interaction. Absolving ownership he hopes the piece to have multiple lives and iterations.

Jasmine Best (Greensboro, NC) | October 2021

Toe Walker is an exercise in body awareness and personal appreciation. It encourages audiences to consider how they take up space in the world and how their body automatically navigates. The artist naturally walks on the balls of her feet. A trait that is hereditary but was also encouraged in girl children as benign a femme trait. Walking on your toes one is used to moving through the world quietly and minimally. This was interrupted by the very old and loud floors of Elsewhere. Jasmine decided to fight their instinct to walk on the quietest parts of the floor and actively seek out where the floor makes the most noise.

Toe Walker is made up of bright, balls of feet only, painted footprints that directly correlate to how loud the floor is where the most footprints reside. Toe Walker invites audiences to play with how much space they want to take up with their movement and how much attention they allow themselves to draw to their movement in Elsewhere.