At this year’s Whitney Biennial, a diverse group of over 70 artists come together to create a “dissonant chorus” of artistic voices. Among them is JJJJJerome Ellis, a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores themes of time, dysfluency, and inclusive futures. Let’s delve into the vibrant world of artistic expression at this renowned event.
Table of Contents
- JJJJJerome Ellis: A Unique Voice
- Collective Collaboration: People Who Stutter Create
- The Importance of Collective in Art
JJJJJerome Ellis: A Unique Voice
For JJJJJerome Ellis, a performance artist whose stutter is integral to their work, the Whitney Biennial provides a perfect platform to showcase their artistry. Ellis’s practices in music, performance, and writing provoke discussions on time, dysfluency, and the promising futures of stuttering pride and disability justice.
Ellis’s contributions to the Biennial include two site-specific works, one of which is a score created post-opening to honor fellow artists. The other is a text-based billboard that symbolizes the pauses and repetitions of stuttering, aligning perfectly with the Biennial’s theme of a “dissonant chorus.”
Collective Collaboration: People Who Stutter Create
To design the symbolic billboard, Ellis formed a collective called People Who Stutter Create, involving individuals from diverse backgrounds such as a doctoral student, a poet, a designer, and a speech language therapist. This collaborative effort allowed for a convergence of ideas and perspectives, emphasizing the power of unity in artistic expression.
Embracing the spirit of collaboration, Ellis welcomed contributions from young students who stutter, highlighting the beauty of diverse voices coming together in harmony while celebrating individual differences.
The Importance of Collective in Art
Ellis emphasizes the significance of collective practices, particularly within the disabled community, that promote interdependence and reject the notion of separability. By intertwining the health of the individual with the health of the collective, Ellis underscores the interconnectedness of all beings and the strength found in unity.
Through their participation in the Whitney Biennial, Ellis embodies the essence of a “dissonant chorus,” where individual voices harmonize to create a symphony of diverse perspectives and shared experiences.
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