June, digital collage of Coorain Devin
Interview with Coorain on the Humble Arts Foundation blog
Press release from the project:
Queer Artist To Release Extravagant Calendar
This January something with a little more glitter will be adorning office cubicles and kitchen nooks- a stunning calendar, produced by a team of 16 artists. Coorain, a video and performance artist who is portrayed in every image, views the project as a collaboration of the finest art. Each artist was given creative control, “although I gave them plenty ideas, I chose strong, interesting artists with their own vision.” This collaborative process is a thread that runs through much of Coorain’s work- they host a talk show on local community cable stations and the internet that features artists, musicians, and other cultural producers. “I think I freaked some people out by making a television show as artwork, but it’s been successful in ways I never expected.”
The roster of included artists includes Boston-based heavyweights, like Sandrine Schaefer, who just completed a summer-long exhibition at the ICA and current Brother Thomas Fellow, and Caleb Cole, a 2015 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow, along with a few relatively unknown artists, like Risa Horn and Joyce Taihei, a recent MassArt graduate whose lush images are dark, yet colorful. “Taihei is so great,” says Coorain, “She uses long-exposures to capture rainbows that the human eye can’t see.” Revealing what can’t or isn’t typically seen is also a big reason Coorain is making this calendar. As much as a few of these artists have begun to make a name for themselves, most are working second or third jobs to support themselves. Any profits Coorain receives will be shared equally with all the artists, many of which land on the LGBT spectrum. “We’re in a cultural moment where people talk big about tolerance and acceptance, but when I look at mainstream culture, gender is heavily policed. I want people to see there are more options.”
More project details can be found here.