Attempts to and with: sighting and siting lived experiences
How does one represent precarious conditions or the conditioning of precarity in ways which do not recirculate possible trauma and harm? What kinds of translation becomes necessary to communicate the knowledge value of these lived experiences within platforms which value the performance of social class, stability, ability, and production?
Chris Simons' practice-based PhD research project tells a story—one built from materials as well as language. The project is in relationship with their lived experiences of precarity and their perception of some of those experiences—as well as the attempts to communicate them to any another—as trauma. It tells a story of especially conflated understandings of identity around these terms—and examines conflations of Simons' own which have been made and re-made. It uses Simons' lived experiences as material for exploring attempts to represent precarity through various auto practices—autotheory, autobiography, oral history, auto-making—as a methodology to research the performance of social class identity.
Content warning: The image gallery includes photo documentation of a parade which contains representations of strong political ideology and weapons.
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Biography
Chris Simons is a photographer and practicing artist based in Los Angeles, California. Simons’ contributions include various collaborations with peers as well as several years as a contributing artist and program assistant with The Institute For Figuring where Simons often worked on The Crochet Coral Reef. Since receiving a BFA from CalArts in 2012, Simons has also developed and facilitated various arts programs and workshops informed by their 10+ years of experience working in youth programming prior to obtaining academic degrees.
Degrees
AAS Photographic Imaging, Suffolk County Community College, 2010
BFA Photography & Media, California Institute of the Arts, 2012
MFA Fine Art, University of Oxford, Ruskin School of Art, 2018
Experience
Contributing Artist/Program Assistant, The Institute For Figuring, Los Angeles CA, USA, 2011-2019
Lead Photography Instructor, Venice Arts, Venice CA, USA, 2014-1016
Lead Sculpture Instructor, CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP), Los Angeles CA, USA, 2014
Awards
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholar, The Cooke Graduate Scholarship, full tuition scholarship, 2017 & 2020
Jack Kent Cooke International Award, Jack Kent Cooke Oxford Scholar at Brasenose College, full tuition scholarship, 2017
WAVE Award, Catalysis and Synergy in the World of Education, 2015
Exhibitions
May You Live In Interesting Times, 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Arsenale, Venice, Italy, 2019 (contributing artist with The Institute For Figuring)
Ruskin Degree Shows 2018, The Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, UK, 2018 (group show)