RAPTURE
Zachery Longboy x Justin Ducharme
These are
Amongst the creatures
I still survive
Burdened by self
I make room for you
You make room for me
Here is my soul
(standing)beside%alongwith.
Here is my breath
$standing}beside!Alongwith.
Here is my past %standing+beside#alongwith.
Here is my dream
~standing”beside=alongwith.
Rejoice
– Zachery Longboy
For this collection of works from Dene artist Zachery Longboy, the process of finding the program started with a feeling. The word rapture presents itself as a double entendre, meaning both an intense pleasure/joy felt and a more biblical definition referring to the transporting of believers to heaven at the Second Coming of Christ. Since the beginning of our friendship and collaboration Zachery and I have always leaned into the subversive. As queer indigenous bodies existing in a society that doesn’t always feel necessarily for us, and finding ourselves creating work about those experiences in tandem – we forged this own second coming. One outside of the typical religious institution and one that celebrates a rapture and celebration of our two spirit kin to a place of utopia. Using hybrid paintings of both watercolor and ballpoint work, Longboy digitizes these works creating illustrious, strange, and dream-like images that demand your attention. The collaboration is a dream place, stand beside and rejoice.
– Justin Ducharme