ROOM-innate
by Lady Tournament
I am my mother’s child. I see my reflection in my daughter. I am without a biological womb but I’m curious how to trace all that I’ve birthed. What depths have I been born from? ROOM-innate maps matrilineal connections of creative expression. The birthplace of my art practice was at my mother’s feet. Our living room became my bedroom - became the womb where my trans-womanhood began. Now as a chosen mom, I seek to create living spaces where my children can rest & create their own expressions of self. Calling on paintings from my biological mother & sculptures from my community, ROOM-innate will be an immersive experience in a presentational recreation of my childhood home. This exhibition troubles the Black domestic as a place of solace, imagination & birth.
Jzl Jmz (FKA JAYY DODD)... aka [Lady Tournament] beamed down in Los Angeles ’92 & is reuploading herself to the internet. Her professional career includes positions at Blavity, The Offing, Winter Tangerine & more. She’s been featured in the LA Times, Poetry Magazine, Oprah Magazine, Ms. Magazine, PEN America, Willamette Weekly, The New York Public Library & several anthologies. She’s the author of Mannish Tongues (Platypus Press 2017) & The 2021 Poetry Center Book Prize-winning: The Black Condition ft. Narcissus (Nightboat 2019). She curated Beyond Special Issue (a collective critique on tokenism in (Trans*) poetry) & THEE SPACE Poetry Prize with Shade Literary Arts. She edited Bettering American Poetry Vol. 2 (Bettering Books 2017) A Portrait in Blues (Platypus Press 2019) & Her film & performance works have been installed & screened across the country from classrooms to museums. She has been a Lambda Literary Fellow, and Precipice Art Grant Recipient through Portland’s Institute of Contemporary Art & Artist-in-Residence at Ori Gallery. She’s an occasional rapper & founder of Tournament.Haus Mutual Aid Fund. Find her talking slick or in another dimension.
@jxzzhndz everywhere