Inbox: Jaypix and Cliff Notez Team Up For “wiild negro is love” Exhibition

Collaboration on display at Cultural Equity Incubator through June

We are big fans of Boston photographer Jaypix, whose pics have appeared in the Dig and in countless shows around the region, as well as the endlessly creative Cliff Notez, who frequently pops up with new amazing projects. So naturally we’re pretty excited about these two teaming up. Here’s the word from the Collaboration at Cultural Equity (CEI) team at the Channel Center:

From May 12 through June 27, 2022, the Cultural Equity Incubator (CEI) is thrilled to dream and build with visionary artists Jaypix and Cliff Notez. For this debut collaboration, they broke bread with slandie prinston (CEI’s Liberatory Artist Coordinator) and micah rose (co-director of emergence at Arts Connect International) at CEI’s physical space.

Cliff and Jay began imagining the convergence of their art into wiild negro is love; from sharing legacies, histories and heart, they created portraiture together. Now wiild negro is love harmonizes these new creations with existing works, emerging a site for community to love the many selves we contain within, & express in public and private spaces.

Rooted in hip hop and subtitled “this is therapy for us”, this collab is an invite to step out into fullness, unknowing, and the wild nature of radical love that says “where you feel deserted, may here be an oasis”.

The CEI Gallery exhibits contemporary art that finds expression at the junction of realism and surrealism to offer new visions of being for collective liberation. The artworks/artists/creators/storytellers/visions we engage in the space contend with questions, explorations, and dreams at the nexus of social equity and collective repair. The CEI Gallery aims to expand the art exhibitions and artworks that folx can engage in the City of Boston.

Deeply concerned with the quality of our shared experiences/spaces/worlds, we offer the gallery as a liberatory landscape rooted in love, justice, and fairness. We center Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQIA+, disabled folx and communities, and all powerful beings targeted in oppressive systems who want to gather, commune, and feed each other.

Join Jaypix and Cliff Notez for an opening reception on Thursday, May 12 from 6-9pm, and a tour led by Jaypix on Thursday, May 19 at 3:15pm. All are welcome, no RSVP needed.