Unrequited Love

"Asari Aibangbee is an interdisciplinary artist, specializing in filmmaking, fiber/textile art, and art curation. Originally from Los Angeles, their artistic journey began in San Francisco, where they founded the collective To Be Black and Queer and established themselves as an independent filmmaker. As a queer Nigerian femme, their work centers on the experiences of Black Queer individuals across the African diaspora, exploring themes of identity, community, and intersectionality. In 2021, they began experimenting with tufting, a medium that became central to their practice in 2023 during their first artist residency, alongside their work with cyanotypes. Their fiber art blends traditional techniques, such as hand tufting with a tufting gun and punch needle, with sustainable yarn and other materials to create intricate compositions. These pieces explore symbols, cultural artifacts, and motifs significant to the Black Queer community, serving as metaphors for broader conversations on identity, belonging, and the diasporic experience. Blackness is often equated with hardness and coldness by the other, but Asari’s work challenges these narratives through tufting, film, cyanotypes, photography, and other mediums. They draw parallels between the softness of textiles and the vulnerability of Queer and Femme Black folks, using intuition and meditative repetition to layer techniques and process emotions like joy, fear, and loss. Their pieces function as maps of imagination, with line work creating borders that shape their final compositions. As a first-generation queer Nigerian American, their indigenous heritage, sexuality, and gender expression inform their world-building approach, existing outside Eurocentric standards and celebrating the richness of their identity. The vibrant colors, textures, and storytelling in their work reflect self-discovery and collective experiences, forming a visual language as expansive as the communities they represent. Their participation in programs like Beyond the Screen with A24, the Promise Workshops at the Academy Museum, and the Queer Women of Color Film Festival has shaped their perspective on world-building, allowing them to reclaim space, redefine narratives, and honor the complexities of Black queer existence."