Nov 16th 2018

Intercepting the Procession

@ Zakaib

3491 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Opening Friday, November 16th, from 5PM - 8PM

On view through Friday, December 14th

Zakaib is pleased to present Intercepting the Procession, a two-person exhibition with works by Jeanette Habash and Jeremy Marcelino Sublewski.

Intercepting the Procession brings together the work of Jeanette Habash and Jeremy Marcelino Sublewski to offer methods of resisting colonization through acts of veneration, reclamation, and intimate gestures. Both artists’ practices look at the role of Christianity in spheres experiencing forms of colonization and ask viewers to engage in radical empathy and a political faith.

The Arab Orthodox Church, indigenous to Palestine and the original form of Christianity, is occupied by Greek Orthodox elites who cooperate with Israel to sell Palestinian land to Zionist developers. The multiple fronts of the occupation are protested by continuing to practice Christian services in the Arabic language. Through an Arab Orthodox lens, Habash’s drawings make icons of lives lost during the genocide of the Nakba (translation: catastrophe) and paintings give reverence to her family’s losses. She creates work to document those of a lost history and to reimagine our present life through the next generations.

Catholicism is often used as a tool for settlers to augment indigenous realities into one that conforms to Western ideals, yet in Mexico, it has merged with elements of paganism. Sublewski’s photos and prints on handmade felt serve to reconstruct his relationship to Catholicism as a Mexican American developing a new language, imagining a new make-believe, and allowing for a future of decolonization to take place.

Sublewski’s mother rubs him with holy water that comes from a well where a miracle supposedly happened. She is counting on a miracle to happen to him.

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Image: Jaffa, Then & Now by Jeanette Habash

Jeanette Habash (b.1995) is a Palestinian-American painter who received her BFA at North Park University in Chicago, IL. Her small expressive drawings and large paintings of people aim to understand collective memory and her Palestinian heritage. Old photographs of her father’s childhood and Palestinians in diaspora serve as the main source material for her work. Jeanette has exhibited at the Evanston Art Center, IL; Gene Siskel Film Center, IL; Carlson Tower Gallery of North Park University, IL; G-CADD, IL; and the Giertz Gallery, IL.

Jeremy Marcelino Sublewski (b.1997) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. Sublewski uses collected objects, photography, and language to empathetically critique his parents’ devotion to Catholicism. Sublewski is currently pursuing his BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited recently in Sullivan Galleries, IL; The Lunch Box, WI; and Defibrillator, IL. Sublewski has received a Roads Scholarship for Research and Travel and the Lunch Money exhibition grant from the Lunch Box gallery in Milwaukee, WI. He currently works as a Curatorial Assistant at the Roger Brown Study Collection.

About Zakaib:

Zakaib is an artist-run project space located at 3491 N Elston Ave. The space holds exhibitions and programs such as screenings, artist talks, and workshops. We promote work that engages the community of Avondale in expansive art practices that share the intersectional concerns of the people we impact. We have stakes in the livelihood of the artists and neighbors of our communities and are committed to advocating for each other.

There is great urgency and necessity for active spaces that operate on bases of equity and human rights. Zakaib was created out of our frustrations with the behavior of business-like art spaces, and we are continually working to establish a future of art spaces prioritizing ethics and empathy. Exhibitions show work ranging in formats including visual, time-based, and written work. All of our events are always free and open to the public.

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