The Black Creative 02: Leila Weefur, Artist, Writer & Curator

State Of The Art

In this episode, Tre Borden speaks with artist, Leila Weefur, whose discussion of black identity is at the center of her work and who is helping to build collectives and spaces in the Bay Area. Together, Tre and Leila ruminate on the complexities of black identity, how it is defined, for whom and by whom. This episode also dives into the double edged sword that is Black History month, and discusses Leila’s upcoming solo-show, Between Beauty & Horror, opening Friday, February 15, 2019 at Aggregate Space Gallery in Oakland.

**Things to Note**

~22-27:30 - When discussing institutional representation and minoritarian artists, Leila Weefur quotes Gelare Khoshgozaran

Referenced Spaces & Literature:

• Wolfman Books
• Betti Ono Gallery
• Spirithaus Gallery
• The Blacker the Berry by Wallace Thurman

-About Leila Weefur-

Leila Weefur (She/They/He) is an artist, writer, and curator who lives and works in Oakland, CA. She received her MFA from Mills College. Weefur tackles the complexities of phenomenological Blackness through video, installation, printmaking, and lecture-performances. Using materials and visual gestures to access the tactile memory, she explores the abject, the sensual and the nuances found in the social interactions and language with which our bodies have to negotiate space.

She is a recipient of the Hung Liu award, the Murphy & Cadogan award, and the Walter & Elise Haas Creative Work Fund. Weefur has worked with local and national institutions including SFMOMA, Southern Exposure, The Wattis, and Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, New York. Weefur is the Audio/Video, Editor In Chief at Art Practical and a member of The Black Aesthetic.

Learn more about Leila Weefur by visiting www.leilaweefur.com

or Follow her @SpikeLeila