Artists Archive

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Explode into Colors

Explode into Colors is a band from Portland that won’t do it unless it’s fun. Heather Treadway, Claudia Meza, and Lisa Schonberg play heavy rhythms, pulsing bass, and melodic echo that has been described as “gritty dance-punk,” “the late-night love child of Fela Kuti and ESG,” and “completely unclassifiable.” Whether performing in basements, living rooms, galleries, or stages, their intention is to positively affect their audience with music that will make them dance. They are fond of celebrations and collaborations with talented local artists that have inspired them. They are also known to make clothes, videos, pictures of all kinds, and studies of insects.

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Hazel Hill McCarthy III

Hazel Hill McCarthy III (b.1980) is a Los Angeles based artist, designer and filmmaker. After graduating in 2003 from Art Center, Pasadena, CA, she established the gallery Show Cave in Los Angeles, which presented local, national and international artists working across diverse media. During this time, McCarthy’s work was centered on exploring the Hollywood tough-guy male film star as embodied by the likes of Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas. She sought to create an altered viewing experience through re-edits of film. McCarthy’s interest in the representation of gender in mainstream culture led her to create a series of touring group shows, notably Licker License, and Gentle Jousting, both of which were presented in Los Angeles; New York City; Mexico City; London; Amsterdam; Berlin and Milan.

McCarthy is co-founder of Hazelium, a broad ranging production company for her solo and collaborative work. In 2016, she directed a feature-length film, Bight of the Twin, which explores the origins of vodoun [sic] in Ouidah, Benin with artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. The work has screened internationally in US, UK, Mexico, Germany, Poland, and Russia. McCarthy has also collaborated with P-Orridge on Thee Psychick Bible, Feral House, 2009, and Thee Psychick Bible of early Psychic TV and TOPY (Temple ov Psychick Youth) Videos from the P-Orridge archives. Her short films have screened at The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, the Barbican and ICA, both London.

McCarthy’s next project, Via Cruxis, is an investigation into a one-day event held annually on Good Friday in the remote village of Carrillo Puerto, Chiapas – the southernmost state of Mexico. Documenting the lead up to the festivities as well as interviewing key participants, Via Cruxis closely films the remarkable procession that is based on the 'stations of the cross' but incorporates an intriguing blend of indigenous pageantry, Catholic faith and a local view of US consumerism/imperialism.

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Ina Diane Archer

Ina Diane Archer is a Media Conservation and Digitization Assistant at The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. She is a filmmaker and visual artist whose multimedia works and films have been shown nationally. Ina was a Studio Artist in the Whitney Independent Study program, a NYFA multidisciplinary Fellow, a 2005 Creative Capital grantee in film and video, and she has been awarded numerous residencies. Prior to joining NMAAHC, Ina was adjunct faculty at Parsons The New School for Design. She is the former co-chair of New York Women in Film and Television’s Women’s Film Preservation Fund. Ina earned a BFA in Film/Video from RISD and a Master’s in Cinema Studies at NYU focusing on race, preservation, early sound cinema and technology and she studied Moving Image Archiving and Preservation at UCLA (MIAS) and NYU (MIAP). Finally, Ina is a regular contributor to Film Comment Magazine, and she participates on their podcasts and she is juggling at least three blogs!

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