For the first time, EJ Hill and Texas Isaiah will commune and discuss Excellentia, Mollitia, Victoria. Excellentia, Mollitia, Victoria, was presented at the Hammer Museum's Made in L.A. 2018 and explored performance, stills, and installation as a form of meditation and healing. For Excellentia, Mollitia, Victoria, Hill and Texas Isaiah visited six of the seven schools Hill attended in Los Angeles—running laps around and documenting each. Hill details these runs as victory laps, a way of reinserting his body into institutional spaces where he never felt entirely accepted. Hill presented the project at the Hammer Museum's biennial, where he stood unmoving on a plinth in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition. Both will discuss the genesis for the project and the role of witnessing and companionship.
EJ Hill is an artist whose practice incorporates painting, writing, installation, and performance as a way to elevate bodies and amplify voices that have long been rendered invisible and inaudible by oppressive social structures. This multifaceted approach often stems from an endurance-based performance practice in which Hill pushes his physical and mental limits as a way to expand the conditions, parameters, and possibilities that determine a body. Hill's work has been presented in domestic and international exhibitions including at the Underground Museum (LA), the 57th Venice Biennale (Italy), Commonwealth and Council (LA), and the Studio Museum in Harlem (NY).
Texas Isaiah is a visual narrator whose work focuses on the possibilities that can emerge by inviting individuals to participate in the photographic process, collectively shifting the power dynamics within photography. Texas Isaiah's work has been exhibited in numerous spaces including the Aperture Foundation Gallery (NYC), Studio Museum in Harlem (NYC), and the Hammer Museum (LA). His work has been featured in Art Forum, FADER, Vice, and Cultured Magazine. He is one of the 2018 recipients of Art Matters and the 2019 grant recipient of the Getty Images: Where We Stand Creative Bursary grant.
