Zora J Murff | Post No Bills
Untitled, Miami 2022 | Stand C35
November 28 – December 3, 2022
Webber Gallery are delighted to present a solo booth of new works by artist Zora J Murff at the 2022 edition of Untitled in Miami. Within this installation Post No Bills the artist continues to examine his social commentary on white supremacy and its impact on his own life, and by extension, the lives of Black Americans. The title, alluding to the control of unauthorized fly-postering, is contested through the artists visual approach in this instance – the installation being considered a collage in it’s own right, a visual collection of individual works, statements and references all entwined to confront America’s ongoing uncomfortable relationship with race, privilege, power and violence.
A floor to ceiling self-portrait adorns an entire wall, obstructing a view and putting the artist present, front and centre in frame – Murff acknowledges institutional requirements to disappear parts of himself that don’t meet white expectations, but these works or affirmations are contesting statements of intent and experience. Other collaged works including Woah Nigga, Die Slow Nigga (Cooning) and A Perfect Slave (alluding to and in response to Jared Sexton’s analogy of Barack Obama) draw further comparison to the stereotypes Black American individuals are expected to conform to – a guide on how to operate in often white centric spaces. The artist parodies this with the statement The Greatest Nigga in the Universe screen printed on to the front of a paper shopping bag, objectified and encased behind the frame, shouting with bravado and high self-worth, whilst alluding to the commodification of race and the idea of selling oneself or selling out.
Accompanying the installation is a supporting risograph artist zine, made in collaboration with the duo WORK/PLAY, the designers behind Murff’s latest publication True Colors: (or, Affirmations in a Crisis), published by Aperture in 2022 as part of their inaugural Next Step Award, in collaboration with Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York. As in True Colors and the works featured within the booth, Murff + WORK/PLAY invert the power of photography to control, survey and distribute and amass an archive of materials and an unwavering voice in response to institutionalized racism.
Zora J Murff (born in Des Moines, Iowa, 1987) is an artist and educator living in Northwest Arkansas. In 2019, Murff was named an Aperture Portfolio Prize finalist, a PDN 30 honoree, and a Light Work Artist-in-Residence; he was one of eight artists chosen for the most recent iteration of the Museum of Modern Art’s New Photography series, Companion Pieces: New Photography 2020. Murff’s books
include Corrections (2015); LOST, Omaha (2018); and At No Point In Between (2019). His work was presented at the 2021 Rencontres d’Arles, France, as part of the Louis Roederer Discovery Award and his works are housed in many notable US institutions and collections including, Studio Museum, SFMOMA, LACMA, MoMA, High Museum, Denver Art Museum and the MoCP.
“Zora J Murff. He is Black; therefore, he is.”
