QUEENs Photobook

QUEEN: Quantum Universal Epic Era Now!

QUEEN is a reclining sculpture of a woman in midlife, powerful and claiming space. Finished in a stone-like treatment that invites viewers of all backgrounds to see themselves reflected, she reclines on a red carpet where participants may sit beside her. A spinning wheel in her head holds her thoughts: I am 50+, I’m in my Power, I am Invisible, I give no Effs, I am Wise, I am Aging, Freedom from the Gaze, I am Becoming, I am You. Participants spin it, stopping on whatever phrase finds them.

A photobook “QUEENs” with images of women in midlife invites reflections on aging, identity, and becoming.

PHOTOBOOK + Interactivity “QUEENs” - by Sofy Yuditskaya
A large-format book rests beside QUEEN with photographs of self identified womxn in midlife (their CRONE or QUEEN years), spanning ethnicities, ages, and bodies, clothed and nude. Participants are invited to reflect: How old are you? What are you afraid of? What brings you joy? Who are you becoming?

The QUEEN, a universal, smooth, colorless representation of a womxn with narry a fold on her is nonetheless a subversion of the neo-classical style of sculpture celebrating the human form that we are so commonly exposed to in public, and in particular burning man art. She has floppy breasts and volume, she has folds, but, no cellulitis, no texture, no moles, no hairs, no color. There were practical and philosophical reasons for these choices, she is made such so that we may project onto her, so that in her lack of detail she can invite our own reflections. However, the world is made of specific people, and so she was gifted a photobook that she looks through as she is reclined in the desert. In that book there are scores of specific self-identified womxn. They are on display wearing outfits they chose in makeup or not, with items they chose to hold. They have skin, texture, color, a variety of ages from 48-92. They have dimples, crooked smiles, joys, and stray hairs, they include their message in their image.

When visitors look through the photobook they also find themselves sitting with the Queen, considering their perspective from her perspective, smiling at the scores of humanity, the scores of human Queens they are looking at, whose messages they are reading. Sitting with the universal they consider the particular.

QUEEN Team
Sophi Kravitz, lead artist, Queen
Ollie Tanner, lead engineer, Queen
Ariana Basco, concept collaborator, Queen
Sofy Yuditskaya, photobook + photobook interactivity creator, Queens
Jessica Barry, build crew, events
Kelly Calypso, events
RiRi, build crew
Laura McGlynn, photographer
Vaporstack, stencil design, build crew
Chris L, build crew

Funded by The Black Rock Arts Foundation and the New York League of Arts as well as several generous individual donors. Thank you!

Special thanks to Scott Kolb, Adelle Lin, Michelle Elise, Zach Fredin, Matt St Leger, and Jon Caywood for their kindness, expertise, and loans of various very important materials. We couldn’t have done it without all of you.