he/him/his

avery r. young has consistently situated his poetry and related interdisciplinary work in the land of Mississippi, Illinois. He describes it as art[work] that merges verse, sound, visuals and performance to offer a past-present-future narrative of blackness. Increasingly, avery is utilizing new technologies and platforms to extend the materials used to craft his art[work] of verse. 

The Project

HCL is supporting avery to develop new installments in mtu [no BOY here], a digital advertisement campaign for mtu hooch, a fictional brand of moonshine. The project includes film, sound and imagery to create the reels [commercials], voiceovers, and billboards. avery’s new work development and related community activities are anticipated to take place using both the HCL studio and the Big Room at Experimental Station, to optimize the residency’s potential. 

In the first half of year, avery plans to develop the multi-media performance piece for the mtu hooch campaign, and rehearse and film the commercial reels. During the mid-year, avery is open to the possibility of collecting photographs of patriarch figures from the community to add to his box of papa baar(s) installation. In addition, avery is interested in an opportunity that open the process to the community, for a roundtable critique. Beginning early fall, avery anticipates filming invited members from the creative community to participate in visual campaigns as “faces” for the mtu hooch brand.

Finally, inspired by and in support of the multilayered project, HCL begins a new chapter by expanding its residency programming to Experimental Station with avery. This includes Experimental Station as the potetial home for various exhibition pieces of the project in development, and studio visits by interested gallery curators. A live recording by avery r young & de deacon board is anticipated for later in the year at Experimental Station.

About the Artist

avery r young was recently named a New Leader of Chicago. An interdisciplinary artist and award-winning teaching artist, he was the Arts and Public Life Artist-In-Residence at the University of Chicago. In the foreword of his most recent book neckbone: visual verses (Northwestern University Press), Theaster Gates called him “one of our greatest living street poets...one of the most important thinkers on the Black experience,” Black Grooves referred to his album tubman (FPE Records) as “brilliant” and “supremely funky.” His poems and essays have been published in Cecil McDonald's “In The Company of Black”. His album booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid engages matters of race, gender, and sexuality in America during the Obama Era. He is the featured vocalist on flutist Nicole Mitchell’s Mandorla Awakening (FPE Records), recorded live and Village Voice Best Jazz Album of the Year, and curated by Yolanda Cesta Cursach Montilla with commissioning support by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. He is director of The Floating Museum, and is currently writing the libretto and music for his debut opera, titled safronia, and the score and script for his debut play maim de looter(s).

For more information, visit avery’s website.