July 28 – September 23, 2022
This summer, ARTS at King Street Station hosts Pantheon Anew, the premier gallery exhibition from multidisciplinary artist Saira Barbaric. The exhibition traverses Barbaric’s exploration of pop culture and spiritual ideology, highlighting the stories we tell to comprehend reality and seek joy.
About the Exhibition
Pantheon Anew is a collection of more than 30 collages plus video art and installation inspired by the past and present of Black diasporic spirituality. African people who were bought and sold in the 16th to 19th century Americas were regularly separated from their families and anyone from their region. Over the centuries, this artist’s ancestors took what they were allowed to build new systems of belief that helped to create protection, community and new understanding.
Honoring these legacies of gathering and crafting for worship and necessity, Barbaric’s collages incorporate magazines, comics, and books from 1963 to the present — some long-loved and some new to the artist — alongside watercolor and acrylic painting. The artist showcases fantasy beings they created and heroes of modern media, sharing the internal pantheon that holds them up. Each piece juxtaposes youth and adult imagery to evoke how we each collect and build a sense of self through time and practice. Barbaric also invites a group of contemporary Black artists to contribute to a video gallery speculating on how that accumulation of self can affect the ebb and flow of spiritual connection.
Exhibition Opening
Join us for the opening on Thursday, July 28. Saira will be present from 1 – 5 p.m.
- Thursday, July 28 – September 23, 2022, 1 to 5 p.m.
- ARTS at King Street Station (303 S. Jackson St., Top Floor, Seattle, WA)
- FREE
About Saira Barbaric
Saira Barbaric (they, he, she, ze) is a nonbinary Black disabled hedonist fascinated by birth, death and rebirth. They are a maker of erotica, performance art, collages and events. Barbaric grounds their work in mediums and venues considered both high and low art with the aim at weakening the barrier between the two. After an undergraduate degree in costuming for theater, Barbaric came west to work in film and nightlife while continually dreaming of crafts. Be it fiber, paper, the body or fauna, Barbaric is driven by how materials interact. Barbaric is the co-founder of Scumtrust Productions, a nonbinary porn project that crafts films and spaces exalting sensual magic. Scumtrust films have been selected to screen in dozens of cities across North America and Europe including HUMP, 2017, the Porn Film Festival Berlin, 2021 and The Seattle Erotic Art Festival, 2022.
ARTS at King Street Station is FREE and open Wednesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m, and until 8 p.m. on First Thursdays.
These exhibitions are organized and presented by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with program lead Jenny Ku and the ARTS at King Street Station Advisors. Support for the installation is provided by Benjamin Gale-Schreck and Blake Haygood.
