Join us for a gallery talk with artist David Antonio Cruz and Jasmine Wahi at moniqumeloche, on the occasion of Cruz’s third solo exhibition "come close, like before"David Antonio Cruz explores the intersectionality of queerness and race through painting, sculpture, and performance. Focusing on queer, trans, and gender-fluid communities of color, Cruz explores the notion of "chosen family," the nonbiological bonds between queer people based on mutual support and love. Each painting depicts the likeness of the artist’s community, and at the same time, the portraits strive to capture much more than the physical representation of the figures; they venerate the overall structure of queer relationships, captured through intimate moments of touch, strength, support, and celebration. Cruz (b. 1974, Philadelphia, PA) received his BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute, NY, and his MFA from Yale University, CT. He attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and completed the AIM Program at the Bronx Museum, New York. His museum solo show "When the Children Come Home" is currently on view at the Sugar Hill Museum in Harlem, NY.

Jasmine Wahi is the Founder and Co-Director of Project for Empty Space, a nonprofit organization in New York City and Newark, New Jersey. Her multifaceted curatorial practice predominantly focuses on issues of femme empowerment, complicating binary structures within social discourses, and exploring multi-positional cultural identities through the lens of intersectional feminism. In 2023, Wahi was honored by The Metropolitan Museum of Art for exemplary social impact work in the arts, both at Project for Empty Space and in her other roles as both a museum curator and independent practitioner. Wahi received her Art History education from New York University, where she has an MA from the Institute of Fine Arts and a BA in Art History from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Gallery Talk is free and open to the public.