Autonomy At All Street Gallery

Art to See Human Experiences in Full Color: A warm Review

By Calli Ferguson

All Street: Autonomy

artworks by Sharon Steven + Lydia Nobles

The night Autonomy opened at All Street Gallery, the kind of rain passed over NYC that seems to come from nowhere– and fast. That kind where everything’s calm and then all-of-a-sudden your tiny little, just-in-case umbrella is inside out and the wet is seeping through to your toes. As I made my way to the gallery tucked on East 3rd Street, the passing storm kind of rattled the energy of NYC on a Friday night– so alarming, almost romantic, and definitely a bit uncomfortable. 

Naturally, I was relieved to get to the gallery doors. But then, almost just as quickly, the mental adventure continued. Again, at once unsettling and inspiring. 

The works on view from painting to costume, photography, and audio-visual elements make up the story of art, fluidity, perspective, and resistance at the intersections of reproductive and queer rights. Autonomy, the current group exhibition curated by Eden Chinn and KT Kennedy uses the space within All Street Gallery’s walls to create a visually beautiful, moving, and at times chilling exploration of bodily autonomy. It asks viewers to think about choice and the body in new ways and on new levels. 

1. Autonomy-ALL STREET | 2. Sharon steven + lydia nobles | 3. K Sarrantonio | 4. Thank god for abortion | 5. sharon steven | 6. Christl Stringer | 7. Sharon steven + lydia nobles + Christl Stringer

Hanging in the front window noticeable upon entrance and on the gallery’s back wall are garments – bold, and lovingly DIY-ed, naturally tapping in to aesthetic cues of protest-wear. And in fact, these pieces by “Thank God for Abortion” would have been brought to life at that special place joining protest and parade– made for the group’s demonstrations and annual float in the NYC Pride Parade. Video of the float and wall text that echoes TGFA’s chants (a powerful reminder of the need for safe abortion access across identities) are also exhibited in the space. With this month marking the 2 year anniversary of the overturning of Roe Vs Wade and coming up on an NYC Pride on the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, this protest art, contextualized within a space so poignantly speaking to vast experiences of bodily autonomy, hits pretty hard.

Making your way through the art and space, the image of a pregnant stomach invites attention somewhat stubbornly via both the artwork’s visual weight in the space and the subject’s energy. The work, The Night Before Birth by K Sarrantonio is brought to life on a grid of ceramic tiles on which the image was screen printed. In what comes together in a notably tacitly diverse show, you’ll also find photography at a much smaller scale– curious and colorful polaroid prints by Sharon Steven are grouped in threes throughout the exhibition. Not to mention, Ayanna Dozier’s powerful prints greet viewers upon entry. I Took Your Fuck Personally and The Artist Must Search Deep Inside Himself For Inspiration, stunningly printed on delicate fabric, address sexual health, gender, and sexuality, while challenging the boxes around such identities and experiences. 

The experience is also highlighted by intriguing sensory sculptures and paintings that provoke this cool, internal shift between finding beauty, discomfort, then perhaps anger, or inspiration. 

I think a moment in this E 3rd Street space is a powerful experience, particularly on its closing days, for a couple of reasons: 

First: Going into a weekend of party or parade, Autonomy reminds us that within the bravery of something like the Stonewall riots are the intertwined branches of realities still in need of fight, resistance, and change. Autonomy is a treasure resting between the twines. It reminds us to forget not bodily autonomy in the movement toward queer liberation, nor queerness in the fight for reproductive rights.

And on a similar note: a reminder of the fluidity that exists within almost every experience is always a valuable thing. Reproductive health needs and experiences in the reality of one’s bodily autonomy are as varied as the bodies that have them. No matter the subject, we know it’s natural to revert to our boxes to understand. But we become more free when we let them go. The more we’re challenged to do so, the better off We are. Human stories reach wide and deep. Sometimes art can remind us of that.

Autonomy is up at All Street Gallery’s East Village location through June 30th
Curatorial Team: Eden Chinn and KT Kennedy
Exhibiting artists: Ayanna Dozier, Christl Stringer, Emma Kanne, K Sarrantonio, Lydia Nobles, and Thank God for Abortion