soft hardwares

July 23 - August 28, 2021

Monaco is pleased to present soft hardwares by Anna Showers-Cruser from July 23 to August 28, 2021 in the Project Gallery.

What if “Polly Pocket” became a Southern herbalist? Conceived as equal parts Femme apothecary and playful cosmetics counter, "soft hardwares" by Anna Showers-Cruser invites visitors to engage with a Project Gallery installation offering a bounty of small-scale, tactile objects. 

Re-interpreted as abstract containers for earnest rituals of self-care, vintage “Nosegay” tobacco tins and toy containers from the 1990s propose the conflation of presumed dichotomies: playfulness/illness, feminine/masculine, and body/object. Plays on common beauty supplies like acrylic nails and cosmetic compacts serve as hardware, supporting humble works in silicone, medicinal herbs, and handmade paper. An accompanying display unit is inspired by those found in personal make-up vanities or apothecaries that have long been sites of quiet magic and resilience.

Throughout the course of the exhibition, objects on display will be available with a free zine “toolkit” featuring recipes and other material to be passed along for community care. Alchemized through the power of make-believe in a time defined by separation, Showers-Cruser’s “soft hardwares” extends an invitation to find radical potential in the humor and intimacy of a series of handmade gestures.

BIO

Anna Showers-Cruser (they/them) is a non-binary sculptor and arts educator with roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains and a studio in Chicago, IL. Their practice synthesizes multiple making disciplines and is steeped in lived experience and research into caretaking and craft traditions, mental health and pathologization, and symbols of queer Femme beauty. ASC is a 2020 3Arts Chicago grant recipient and was a HATCH artist-in-residence with Chicago Artists Coalition. Recent work has been exhibited with Leiminspace in Los Angeles, the Hyde Park Arts Center and the Arts + Public Life Arts Incubator in Chicago, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This summer, ASC will participate in Biennial 31 at the South Bend Museum of Art and will complete a site-specific installation for Buddy at the Chicago Cultural Center.

annashowerscruser.com
IG: @anna__s__c