Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo)

The Stuart Weitzman School of Design and The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania are pleased to present an artist lecture and conversation with Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) whose provocative work utilizes daily objects and motifs from pop culture as a way to reckon with her life experiences and interrogate our existing institutional structures.

This free public lecture is part of a series that gathers distinguished artists, activists, writers, and disruptors whose work engages with the social and cultural themes of our time.

RECOGNIZE THE HUMANITY IN TRANS PEOPLE FROM TRANS CHILDREN TO TRANS ELDERS • I WAS BORN A WOMAN IN A SOCIETY THAT COERCED ME INTO REPRESSION UNTIL ADULTHOOD • KEEP UP • MY GENDER IS NOT DEFINED BY MY GENITALIA • MY GENDER IS NOT DEFINED BY CHROMOSOMES I AM A TRANS WOMAN DEMANDING ACCEPTANCE AND EQUITY NOT TOLERANCE AND EQUALITY

Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo) lives and works in New York. Until 2018, the conceptual works of Puppies Puppies (Jade Kuriki-Olivo) were created by an anonymous artist-subject. The name Puppies Puppies revealed neither gender or origin, nor whether a group or just a single individual was behind the pseudonym. Stepping away from this veiled identity became part of a series of works beginning in 2018 that were overlaid with the actual transitioning of the artist to Jade Kuriki Olivo. Her activist practice and commitment to the rights of BIPOC transgender, gender non conforming, two spirit + minorities has become steadily more important as she continues her transition as a multiracial woman of trans experience. She is the recent recipient of Toby’s Award, given every two years by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Ohio. Recent exhibitions include Transcendence, Performance Space, New York (2022); TRANNY, Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany (2022); I’m Jade. I’m a trans woman trans womxn trans femme two spirit human being. Life feels long even though it hasn’t been all that long. A brain tumor surgically removed, getting divorced, losing my dad, brain tumor resurgence scare, starting hormone replacement therapy, experiencing sexual assault and rape multiple times and coming out as a woman. This exhibition is a roller coaster of the emotions feelings but also thoughts connections that happened over this span of time… only a little more than a decade. This exhibition covers the span of Puppies Puppies to Jade. It’s hard to get up each morning. My heart aches but I’m happy to be a woman. I’ll try my best to enjoy life even though society makes it difficult. From dust to dust I am but a speck on this planet and I wonder how to use this short life of mine. Trying not to let my trauma take over but still be kind to yourself Jade. This is the end of a decade • a new way of working coming soon. Sincerely, Jade Kuriki Olivo, Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland (2021); BODY FLUID: BLOOD, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, Canada (2019); PLAGUE, Halle für Kunst, Lüneberg, Germany (2019); Anxiety, Depression & Triggers, Balice Hertling, Paris, France (2019); Executive Order 9066 (Soul Consoling Tower), Queer Thoughts, New York (2019); Una Mujer Fantástica (A Fantastic Woman), Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin, Germany (2018);  Puppies Puppies, XYZ Collective, Tokyo (2016). Her work was featured in the 2017 Whitney Biennial, the 9th Berlin Biennale and X Nicaraguan Biennale.
 

Content Warning: Lecture will include nudity, sexual activity and may include topics of sexual assault, rape, trans violence and murder. 
 

About this series

The Institute of Contemporary Art and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania are pleased to present a series of free public lectures and conversations that connect a group of distinguished artists, writers, activists, and disruptors to the Philadelphia public.

In their varied approaches and techniques, these individuals speak to ICA’s ethos of artistic experimentation and practice that engages with the social and cultural themes of our time. As artists, writers, and cultural producers, their artwork and criticism expand across themes of popular culture, queer life, kinship & community, and de/construction through the utilization of sculpture, performance, sound, collage, installation, and more.

In this lecture series, we invite you all to engage in conversation with our participants and become a part of an active dialogue that explores the stake of contemporary art in our society and culture.

Support

Programming at ICA is made possible in part by the Emily and Jerry Spiegel Fund to Support Contemporary Culture and Visual Arts and the Lise Spiegel Wilks and Jeffrey Wilks Family Foundation. Public and Student Engagement at ICA is supported by the Bernstein Public Engagement Fund, Suzanne Weiss Doft & Jacob W. Doft, Hilarie L. & Mitchell Morgan, and by Dana McDonald Strong & Mark W. Strong.

The Master of Fine Arts program at Penn is focused on the professional development of visual artists. Through workshops, seminar courses, international residency opportunities and interactions with curators, writers and artists, the program provides an open intellectual framework to foster independent methods of artistic research.

If you require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, please email news@design.upenn.edu to let us know what you need. Please note, we require at least 48 hours’ notice. If you register within 48 hours of this event, we won’t be able to secure the appropriate accommodations.