GINSSIYO APARA

GINSSIYO APARA (they/them)

Ginssiyo Apara is an artist and theorist working with various media, ranging from sound, sculpture, painting, poetry, and writing. A common theme that runs throughout their work centers around manipulating found plastic materials, synthesizing them with classic fine art materials. 

Recently, they have begun exploring the use of “playful” materials such as puffy paint, sequins, vintage stickers of nostalgic cartoon imagery, repurposing and arranging discarded items. They are interested in deconstructing the definitions and distinctions made between “art” and “trash”. 

In deconstructing these two categories their work aims to construct an allegory that reveals the trials and tribulations of the black community in America. Example: the analogy of the simultaneous “trash”-like treatment of the black demographic, yet overconsumption of the culture. Through this, they conceptualize this notion of a “recycling” of black culture and existence. 

“The recent ban of plastic bags is the ban on the black existence, yet in reality blackness will exist long after. Blackness is the creation that can’t be recycled, that never decomposes.” -GA