ADDRESSING THE FUTURE

A SOLO EXHIBITION BY YANNICK LOWERY. 4/6/24 - 4/21/24

Black Letter Writers Society founder and designer, Chimene Jackson, introduced the phrase “addressing the future” to Lowery as a means of relaying present wisdom to the future realm; using surfaces such as the postcard as a vehicle where the artist’s message marries with the sender’s. This concept was a catalyst for Yannick Lowery’s work of communal futuring through a series of workshops intended to reimagine Philadelphia's shifting landscape through paper collage. Provided with a collection of Philadelphia based imagery taken by the interdisciplinary artist, as well as photos sourced from city archives, participants were encouraged to consider the future of the city’s unused and abandoned spaces and how they may be sustainably repurposed. These analog compositions were then printed as postcards, and distributed as platforms upon which locals could write their visions.

With Addressing the Future, Yannick Lowery’s reimagined post office enunciates the contemporary idea of the post office as a transitional space between Now and Then. Lowery has previously described the world building approach of his paper collages as blueprints foretelling larger works. Here, Addressing The Future, marks the genesis of the expansion of his collage work into the built environment: using a variety of methods and materials from wood, acrylic, and glass to further transport viewers into his worlds. Each work shares a proverbial vision through portals of various mail devices posing the beauty and responsibility of tomorrow. Referencing the span between collective memory and premonition, these works aim to be the interstitial fascia connecting present duty to the future realm.