Woman Made Gallery: Water Becomes Blood; Juried by Aliya Parashar and Zakkiyyah Najeebah Dumas O'Neal

Woman Made Gallery is seeking submissions for our May-June 2021 group exhibition juried by Aliya Parashar and Zakkiyyah Najeebah Dumas O'Neal. This exhibition will be held at the gallery and online. Submissions will request the submitter to select participation in (a) the hybrid presentation (at the gallery and online) or (b) the virtual exhibition only. 

EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION
Water Becomes Blood is an exhibition that centers on chosen families in LGBTQIA+ communities. When safety is not always promised in blood relations, chosen families can create a space that centers around the security of their individuals. These families host love, joy, and acceptance at their core via unquestioned support. This allows members to explore and self-actualize in the form of true liberation. They also provide room for members to question themselves and the greater community during the process of their journey. Woman Made Gallery is looking for work that represents and appreciates these invaluable connections.

• Woman Made Gallery is particularly, though not exclusively, interested in investigating the following conceptual questions for "Water becomes blood":
• What does chosen family mean to you?
• What are some of the best memories of joy and love that you have with your chosen family?
• What struggles/hardships have you experienced/overcome together?
• If you live with your chosen family, how have your daily interactions shaped your routine?
• What role do you play in your chosen family?
• Does your chosen family have a rich generational history? How does that history impact/inspire you to continue to grow your family?

Woman Made Gallery seeks artwork in all mediums. The juror is especially, though not exclusively, interested in artworks from the following mediums:

• Video work/installation
• Digital renderings
• Digital art
• New Media work
• Sound
• Drawing/Illustration
• Painting
• Photography
• Textile Work
• Fiber Work
• Fiber / textile / fabric / weaving based installations
• Creative Writing
• Performance art*

*The ability to perform in the gallery space may be limited due to CDC and City of Chicago COVID-19 guidelines. In the event that a physical performance may not be possible, video documentation of the performance will be exhibited.

ABOUT THE JURORS
Aliya Parashar (she/her) - Aliya Parashar is an interdisciplinary artist who works in mediums of fibers + materials and installation art in order to communicate the intersection of gender identity, post-colonial theory, and mythology. She strives to strike a balance between celebrating femininity and honoring bodies while creating a vision of resistance through garments and fiber production. Her work has been featured in SHUBA, Paper, Post, Crux, and Posture Magazine with her most recent show taking place at ACREprojects in 2019. Aliya holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago after transferring from Otis College of Art and Design. She is now pursuing her MA/MFA dual degree at the California College of Arts in San Francisco.

Zakkiyyah Najeebah Dumas O'Neal - Zakkiyyah Najeebah Dumas O'Neal is a Chicago-based visual artist, educator, and independent curator. Zakkiyyah's work is most often initiated by personal and social histories related to family legacy, queerness, community making, and interiority. Zakkiyyah's practice borrows from visual traditions such as social portraiture, video assemblage, and vernacular found family sourced materials. Currently, Zakkiyah's body of work prioritizes social relationships related to queerness, Black women’s identity formation, family, social architectures, and the desire for connectedness. Zakkiyyah is a Co-founder of Concerned Black Image Makers, a collective-driven project that prioritizes shared experiences and concerns by lens-based artists of the Black diaspora; and most recently has been featured in exhibitions at South Bend Museum of Art, Goldfinch Gallery, Blanc Gallery, Glass Curtain Gallery, ADDS DONNA, and Zhou B. Art Center.

IMPORTANT DATES
EXHIBITION DATES: May 27 - June 27
SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: April 18 at 11:59 PM
NOTIFICATIONS: May 2
DEADLINE FOR WORKS RECEIVED BY WMG: May 21

SUBMISSION FEE
The submission fee for Water Becomes Blood is $30. Only one submission may be entered per artist. Each submission requires one artwork, though up to three artworks may be considered per submission. Paid submission does not guarantee an exhibition opportunity. No refunds offered.
Members at the Enhanced Artist Level and above receive one free entry annually. Please email general@womanmade.org to receive your one-time code for free entry redemption.
On a needs basis, WMG offers a limited number of fee waivers upon approved application. Applications are available within each call for entry. The team at WMG will review applications on a rolling basis and send fee waivers within 48 hours of application.

ELIGIBILITY
Woman Made Gallery is a space for Women, Womyn, and Womxn identifying artists from our local community, regionally based, and around the world. We welcome art from all womxn, including trans women and femme/feminine-identifying genderqueer and non-binary artists. *Woman Made gallery recognizes that the LGBTQIA+ community is hosted by a multitude of identities and is extending applications to all encompassing individuals.
No work may exceed 6’ horizontally or be over 75 pounds in weight unless delivered and picked up by the artist. WMG will refuse receipt of art that is heavier than 75 pounds.