Yani Aviles

During their time as a resident, Aviles has turned the gallery space into an open-access studio, library, and healing place for people to gather and dialogue about issues plaguing the city, nation, and world. In the wake of the Mayor's budget cuts and the announcement that libraries will now be closed on Sundays, Aviles will create a curated library open on Sundays. The collection will include books, texts, videos, and other materials that are related to topics including housing justice, non-western spiritual and energetic knowledge, ecology, social philosophies, and decolonial thought and practice. Their final installation will transform the library into works that critique minimalist and modernist art and design practices, developing these models into possibilities for social welfare and collective memory-making.

Yani Aviles is a transdisciplinary artist whose practice is a form of medicine making. Their work is influenced by a liberation praxis, and they research, write, and create contemplative installations and conceptual pieces to transform states of crisis into moments for healing. They challenge normative systems of knowledge production and dissemination by employing multimedia, multisensory, and embodied decolonial approaches. Yani has exhibited their work in Chicago, New York, and Berlin, at venues such as Apparatus Projects, The Block Museum, Adds Donna, and The Institut für Alles Mögliche, among others. They hold a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, an MFA in Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University, and have received foundational Reiki and Herbalism certifications.