SF Camerawork presents a solo exhibition of the work of Jamil Hellu.
Jamil Hellu : Together presents a survey of works by Jamil Hellu, who, for the last decade, has developed a distinct visual vocabulary addressing the intersections of cultural lineages and queerness.
Comprised of photographs and video installations, the exhibition highlights Hellu’s recurring uses of self-portraiture to activate a contemporary dialogue about the implications of cultural heritage on queer narratives. Throughout his work, Hellu creates forms of representation based on queer visibility, inverting the role of the photographer as he himself is also one of his subjects.
Hellu’s projects are often defined by a collaborative method, through which he actively engages members of the San Francisco Bay Area’s diverse LGBTQ communities, inviting participants to manipulate identity as a series of cultural constructs. His images defy binary assumptions about race, gender, and sexuality, ultimately contending that a multiplicity of contrasting queer voices co-exist simultaneously. Juxtaposing photographic imagery in jarring and often humorous ways, Hellu brings into focus the impact of discrimination and intolerance on the shaping of personal histories and thus employs the camera as a tool for fostering agency, social change, and empathy.
This exhibition is supported by grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.
Jamil Hellu is a visual artist whose work deals with issues of identity relating to race, queer sexuality, and gender. His work was recently included in Bay Area Now 8 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; and Sense of Self at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. He is the recipient of the San Francisco Art Commission’s Individual Artist Grant (2019/2020), Zellerbach Family Foundation’s Project Grant (2020), Fleishhacker Foundation’s Eureka Fellowship Award (2018), the Kala Art Institute Fellowship, AIR Program at Recology San Francisco, Graduate Fellowship at Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Citre Internationsale des Arts residency in Paris.
His work has been discussed in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Advocate, and VICE. His latest project, Hues, was included in the latest revision of Art & Queer Culture, published in 2019 by Phaidon. Hellu studied at Cabrillo College (1999), the San Francisco Art Institute (BFA 2003), and Stanford University (MFA 2010). He teaches photography in the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford University.
Jamil Hellu : Together
January 23 – March 14, 2020
San Francisco Camerawork
1011 Market St Floor 2
San Francisco, CA 94103
