Sequin/ce, is a community co-created collaborative project organized by Joy Cotton and Aspen M. Laboy who collected photographs that visually interpret notions of queer joy through an open submission process. They then assembled photographs into a large-scale collage that wraps the gallery space in a visual manifesto of collective power, enduring presence, and joyful resistance.
On Friday, August 9th, the exhibition will become a stage for a night of performances by Cash Too, Cassy Jensen, Aspen M. Laboy, and Noni that celebrate queer joy as a mode of resistance to legislation designed to destabilize and disenfranchise Nebraska’s LGBTQIA2S+ communities.
Performance Schedule:
6:00pm: Doors Open
7:00pm: Readings by Aspen M. Laboy, Cassy Jensen, and Noni
8:00pm: Performance by Cash Too
Free and open to all. Please register to attend!
Generator Space is wheelchair accessible and located on a fairly busy street with a decent amount of traffic. Please use crosswalks for safety. Unmetered street parking is available on Vinton Street, 18th Street, and neighborhood streets to the north and west of the space.
Generator Series programming is presented with support from the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.
About the Performers:
Chef, Musician, Lover, Someone Somewhere accompanied by their best friend, Joe. This duo goes by Cash Too. They are a Johnny Cash cover band. Cash Too wants you to know, "THE WORLD IS YOURS."
Cassy Jensen, a writer hailing from Omaha, NE, employs a creative process that commences with attentive listening, keen observation, and a deep connection to emotions. Articulating her responses through various mediums, including poetry, fiction, stand-up, screenwriting, public speaking, and performance, she showcases a diverse range of expressive talents. Bridging the realms of humor and poignancy, her poems evoke laughter, while her comedy explores themes of sadness. As a conscientious storyteller, Cassy recognizes the profound influence that medium and context wield over the reception and real-world consequences of a message for its audience. Pursuing truth and delving into the complexities of ethics, morality, power dynamics, epistemology, oppression, and trauma, she navigates the ambiguities and paradoxes of these subjects. Her ultimate goal is to emerge from each endeavor with newfound wisdom and a touch more confusion, to walk away with something new to chew on.
Aspen M. Laboy (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist from Omaha, Nebraska working in poetry, glass sculpting, installation, and film photography. Exploring concepts of environmentalism, internal identity, and cultural heritage, they are influenced by nature, science, and philosophy. Aspen has three published books; “Spirit” (2017), “The Quiet Lion” (2018), and “I MATTER” (2022). They co-hosted the poetry workshop “Corner’s Space” at KANEKO and have performed poetry in various galleries. In 2023, several of their selected poems were aired on “Friday Live'' with Nebraska Public Media through NPR. Their work has been exhibited at MoonRise Gallery, Fleabane Gallery, Goldsmith Silversmith, LUX Center for the Arts, Generator Space, Family of Things, and Union Street Gallery. Currently, Aspen is one of the selected artists for the Alternate Currents Cohort through Amplify Arts. In addition, they were awarded a scholarship for Penland School of Craft to attend in Summer of 2024.
Noni Williams is a senior cloud data engineer, a teaching artist, an independent data consultant, a performance poet, a storyteller, a mathematician, a philosopher born and raised in North Omaha, Nebraska. As a queer, Black person in the Midwest, Noni has created an intentional space for self expression in her approach to mathematics, in her poetry, through fashion, and collaborations with artists in her community. Noni spends most of her time training data analytics apprentices, exploring storytelling with data, writing, mentoring, tutoring, fencing, finding purpose in using mathematical concepts to explore the perceived world around her, and fostering the joy of that exploration in others. Williams is a Ten Outstanding Young Omahan, Ten Outstanding Young American, and has created work featured by Opera Omaha, Kiewit Luminarium, Juneteenth JoyFest, AfroFest, Omaha Diversity Experience, Nonprofit Association of the Midlands, and Silicon Prairie News.