Exhibition Dates: April 29–May 22, 2021
Day & Night Projects is proud to present Handle with Care, an exploration of rhythm, pattern, and movement through textile and performance by Atlanta-based artist Felistas Varaidzo Mhute. Setting the scene, thickly-embroidered fabric panels hang form the ceiling, draping the gallery with thread, yarn, hair, dried flowers, and natural fibers. The artist has twisted, bound, and stitched these filaments to create a network of tissues and membranes.
In this environment, Mhute will enact her first public performance of dance and movement—dressing in and shedding these fabric skins, transforming her appearance with each sheath and husk. Mhute’s attention to physical movement, and the masking and revealing of her “emotional body” opens a conversation between who we are and who we appear to be. Which skins fit us, and which do we wear to fit others?
Handle with Care opens with the live performance (free) on Thursday, April 29, at 5:55pm. Subsequent gallery hours are Fridays & Saturdays 12–5pm, through May 22. Due to COVID- 19 pandemic, Day & Night Projects will implement the following precautions to limit transmission of the virus: The number of persons in the gallery will be limited to 5 at one time. Our garage door will be open in good weather to increase air circulation. Masks will be required for all visitors. Hand sanitizer will be provided. All high-touch surfaces will be cleaned every hour. No restroom will be accessible.
The exhibition Handle with Care will be documented below, including the option to purchase artworks on our online store.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Felistas Varaidzo Mhute (b.1993) is a fiber artist and hair designer who was born in Zimbabwe and is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated with a BFA in textiles from Georgia State University in 2018 and has been exploring and creating since. Her love for fiber was cultivated at a young age: she spent summers watching her grandmother who was a doily maker and her aunts who were seamstresses. Her current work seeks to highlight how collective knowledge—both emotional and physical—builds up in our bodies and informs how we react and change as we navigate life. Handle with Care is her first performance and installation that highlights these cycles of transformation and demands us to pay attention to the spaces in between. Visit mamoyo.squarespace.com for more information.
