Alex Mari
Alex Mari, One-drop (threading piece), 2016, In-studio performance, 5 hour duration, four 5 x 5 inch performance photos, 13 x 9 performance photo, and video with sound, 2:36 minutes
Alex Mari, One-drop (threading piece), 2016, In-studio performance, 5 hour duration, four 5 x 5 inch performance photos, 13 x 9 performance photo, and video with sound, 2:36 minutes
Visual Description: Photographs and video examine the historical one drop rule of multi-racial Black identity and the transference of power/magic. In the photographs and the performance video, the artist is seated cross-legged on a red fabric, one drop of the artist’s blood is added to a mixture of coconut oil and warm water and distributed to each strand of hair before threading.
About
Alex Mari (they/she) is a conceptual and durational performance artist from Atlanta. They received their MFA from SCAD-Atlanta in 2013 and have shown work across Atlanta including MINT Gallery, whitespace, Echo Contemporary, ACA Sculpture Gallery, and Mason Murer Fine Art, among others. They have performed in the Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival and in Yellow Fish Durational Performance Art Festival. They have also performed and shown work nationally and internationally in Seattle, NYC, Berlin, London, Monrovia, Fez, Puri, and most notably at the Shangyuan Art Museum in Beijing. They’ve received awards from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts, Burnaway’s Southern BIPOC Artist Grant, and National Endowment for the Arts Distinguished Fellowship. They recently finished a Fellowship with Emory University’s Arts and Social Justice Fellows Program in 2022. Mari continues her conceptual practice as a 2023-2025 Artist-in-Studio resident with The Creative’s Project in Atlanta.