Kaucyila Brooke - Tit for Twat: Can We Talk?

March 8—29, 2014 Reception: Saturday, March 8, 8–11PM Location: 3006 W 7th St #220 Los Angeles CA 90005 Exhibition Hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 12noon–6PM Commonwealth & Council presents a selection of most recent photomontages from "Tit for Twat: Can We Talk?" This is Kaucyila Brooke’s second exhibition with the space that follows up our 2010 showcase of promotional materials (posters, t-shirts, and the photo novella) to relaunch and release Tit for Twat in the United States as a response to the censorship of the work at the Bucharest Biennale that same year. "Tit for Twat" (1993—ongoing) is an openly structured narrative of photomontages designed for exhibition and publication. Its three expanding chapters are titled "Madam and Eve in the Garden," "Can We Talk?" and "It’s Not about Shame! Accessorize!" The work continues to de-center notions of innovation and origin in history, creationism, science, and material culture—re-imagining the infrastructures of knowledge that construct hierarchies through a closed system of classification and value. Motivated by their desire for knowledge, Madam and Eve sojourn from their desert landscape of Southern California—embarking on a voyage of discovery that explores the myth of the Garden of Eden. "Tit for Twat: Can We Talk?" chronicles their journey thus far: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Ham House and Garden, United Kingdom; Gardens of Versailles and Château de Vaux le Vicomte, France; Paleis Het Loo, Netherlands; Herrenhausen Gardens, Germany; Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna; and Biosphere 2, Oracle, AZ. Los Angeles based artist Kaucyila Brooke works primarily in photography, text and image, video, and drawing. Her 2012 retrospective "Do You Want Me To Draw You A Diagram?" at the Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe, Germany, focused on her narrative projects starting from the 1980’s—including the most recent iteration of her ongoing project "Tit for Twat." Although initiated in Southern California, "Tit for Twat" has been shown primarily in European venues including: Kunstverein Munich, Germany (2007); Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland (2001); and "Ars Electronica 2000: Next Sex" as the featured installation at the O.K. Centrum, Linz, Austria. Brooke is the Co-Director of the Program in Photography and Media at CalArts where she has been a regular member of the faculty since 1992.