OKWAE A. MILLER
rose.water//copper.garden
May 10 - June 14
Opening reception on Saturday, May 10th, 5 to 8pm
BEST PRACTICE is pleased to announce an exhibition of the work of San Diego-based artist, dancer and choreographer, Okwae A. Miller titled rose.water//copper.garden. This video and sculptural installation is the culmination of an ongoing project by the artist and will include video produced in collaboration with Atlanta-based filmmaker Kris Valeriano, San Diego-Based filmmaker and activist Xavier Vasquez, and sound designer Robert Carlo.
rose.water//copper.garden explores the curiosity of healing, ancestral veneration and regeneration of the dysregulated nervous systems. Addressing personal trauma and heartbreak, this work is intended as an open letter of personal reverence, love and regard for self as a priority. In this choreographic installation, Okwae A. Miller, reimagines the bounty of intricate memories residing within the bones of his past self, the person who stands before you today and all the people in between. In this series of experiments of dancing-for-the-camera, the artist contemplates on three varied surfaces that immerses the viewer to connect with their own healing journey. Nuanced through expressive movement, the artist charges through the terrain of a non-linear healing journey to undress the veil of shame by punctuating life’s radiance that would not exist without pain.
Okwae A. Miller is a research-based and interdisciplinary choreographer/dancing artist that explores curiosity as a mechanism of personal healing, ancestral wisdom and decolonization of black/queer experiences. Through proactive movement accented by aggressive attack his work highlights the complexities of identity and embodied history, while confronting social-contemporary issues of the politicized black body and the nuances surrounding how cultural communities are curated. Ensuring multi-dimensional artistic expression, his choreographic research intertwines activism, film, sourced materials and literature to facilitate meaningful dialogue that disintegrates the notion that art is a shared somatic encounter.
Since 2016, Okwae Miller has worked as an Atlanta-based independent artist where he had an array of experiences that sparked his professional and artistic voice as a collaborative activist that demands your attention, confronts your expectations and invites you into a profound space of reflection. He has worked as a Community Artist with Spelman College, an Artist-in-Residence with The Lucky Penny WORKROOM and community collaborations with organizations that support the sexual health and education of black queer communities. It is from these artistic experiences; he was able to produce evening-length performances such as The g[R]ay Boi and I call him.he[R]. Each of these works approached themes of sexuality, racism, identity and heterosexism and were presented with the granting support of The City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, Fulton County Arts Council and local organizations THRIVE SS, AID Atlanta and SPARKrj NOW!
With the rise of COVID-19, his choreographic process evolved into a virtual-focused initiative, involving dance film and photography practice. In lieu of the pandemic, he was able to produce a shy, [RED] moon, a dance film confessing the conflicted societal ills and the blossoming of the HIV-positive black body; with the support of Idea Capital Artist as Activist Grant and Fulton County Arts Council.
Most recently, upon relocating to San Diego in 2022, as an intentional displacement practice to pivot artistically, he completed the Impact Artist Residency at Bread & Salt Gallery. During this residency, he began the development of rose.water//copper.garden, which follows the intricacies of a non-linear healing journey to regenerate the nervous system dysregulated by heartbreak while punctuating the sifts of beauty with the phases of self from the past to the present. This work has been growing conceptually over the past two years in several iterations; including a solo exhibition at Bread & Salt in January 2024.
UPCOMING
Jean Lowe / Kim MacConnel / Rancholo
July 12 - August 16
Ewa Slapa
September 13 - October 18
Celeste Hernández / Leslye Villaseñor (curated by Elizabeth Rooklidge)
November 8 - December 13
1955 Julian Avenue
San Diego, CA 92113
map
25th/Commercial on the Orange Line
Barrio Logan on the Blue Line
Gallery hours (during exhibitions):
Tuesday - Saturday
11am - 4pm