
How ’bout a little laughter to threaten authority. Smack Mellon probes the transgressive potential this might have in our increasingly tense political landscape in the group exhibition, Laugh Back.

“Focusing specifically on the practices of self-identifying women, Laugh Back reframes the trope of humorless feminist resistance by emphasizing deployments of the absurd that disrupt presumed stable discourses. Speaking directly to the contemporary sociopolitical climate, the works in Laugh Back examine gender, race, politics, and labor from multicultural perspectives to uncover a current, uniquely feminist brand of humor that is an increasingly threatened and threatening vehicle to speak truth to power.”

Participating artists are Farah Al Qasimi, Natalie Baxter, Deborah Castillo, Kristina Davis, Dynasty Handbag, Jesse Harrod, INNER COURSE (Rya Kleinpeter and Tora Lopez), Lady Parts Justice League’s Vagical Mystery Tour, Jen Liu, Rachel Mason, Jan Man, Luis Mejico, Madhini Normal, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Katherine Simone Reynolds, Andrea Stanislav.

“Laugh Back focuses on the diverse cultural production of artists who engage the defiant possibilities of humor, satire, and the absurd as subversive tools for cultural change.”
Laugh Back, curated by Lindsey O’Connor, will be on view to August 19, 2018 at Smack Mellon, 92 Plymouth Street at Washington Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Check the Smack Mellon website for numerous related events.