Or Zubalsky is an artist exploring overlaps between trauma, memory, transformation, and healing. They were previously a resident at Pioneer Works (2023), NEW INC incubator member (2023), and C/Change R&D Lab fellow (2023). Zubalsky’s work has been supported by The New Museum, The Museum of Art and Design, Queens Museum of Art, Rhizome, Eyebeam, Culture Push, Brooklyn Arts Council, and Art Matters, among others. They been developing a trauma-informed approach to making and relating to art through practicing, teaching, peer learning, and organizing. They have made video, performance, and software-based work that unpacks how memory operates, specifically in relation to settler colonialism. Since becoming a parent, Zubalsky has been exploring the inner workings of memory in relation to post-trauma and gender. They live in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn) with their partner and child.
Fellowship Statement
The main subject in my work is the gap in fragmented post-traumatic memory. It is a space of absence and disconnection as well as an opening through which resonance can be felt. In the past years, I made work that recognized the existence of the gap and explored some of its characteristics. Now, I am ready to make work from within it. My experience of post-trauma is such that the mysterious operations of memory can be both terrifying and precious. To aspire to make work from within the gap is to seek an opportunity to channel lightness and ease in response to oppression and harm. Having the support to sustain my practice for three years will help me grow into this work. This support will allow me to move at the rhythms that my body will allow, develop a new visual vocabulary, and document the beauty in the interwoven processes of healing and transition.
Photo by Levi Mandel.
