A Smile Split By Stars: is there another way to describe a smile undergirded by violence? But to assume only violence exists is to enter the space with preconceived notions, ones that philip and the curators attempt to work beyond.

To confront a Toor then is to reckon with the nature of art history itself. And simultaneously, it is to imagine a vision of optimistic queer futurity that begins with recognition as a radical form of community building.  From paintings of beleaguered South Asian folks worn out in airport security lines, to reconfigurations of queer non-binary folks caught in the heady desire of an embrace, Toor carves out a space for new and vivacious subjectivities that have long been hushed or glossed over.

the idea that human rights are tied to land and the fact that plants are part of my work is no coincidence. Indigenous cultures wouldn’t exist without access to land as a fundamental right. That’s a theme in my work: food culture, human rights, access to land, taste.

How quickly artists can fade into obscurity if information about them is behind paywalls or links to exhibits are dead.