Jay Michelle Elizondo, I’m A Girl, 2023, 1:55 min, Digital Videocassette
Friday, December 11 from 6–7 PM
A.I.R. Gallery (155 Plymouth St)
Please join us on Friday December 11, at 6 PM for a conversation between curator, educator, and activist Jasmine Wahi and 2025-2026 A.I.R. Fellow Jay Michelle Elizondo in conjunction with Elizondo’s inaugural solo show, Paper Doll.
Elizondo and Wahi, will discuss the artist’s current body of work and her re-imagining girlhood to reconcile with childhood trauma.
The event will also screen excerpts from I’m A Girl (2024)— featured in Elizondo’s exhibition— and Missy (2020), an earlier work that initiated Elizondo’s and Wahi’s mentorship— tracing the progression of the artist’s work around nostalgia, home, family, and childhood trauma.
Jay Michelle Elizondo is an artist whose work seduces viewers into intimate confrontations with her trans body. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at Project For Empty Space in Times Square, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Smack Mellon, and Satellite Art Fair. She has presented curatorial projects at SoMad, Please Don’t Come To This Show, and SVA Chelsea Gallery. She is a 2025-2026 A.I.R. Gallery Fellow and was a 2020 resident artist at The Chautauqua School of Art. Elizondo’s work was featured in Smack Mellon’s 2022 and 2021 Hot Picks. She is a recipient of The 2020 Edward Zutrau Memorial Award, The Jeff F Hilson Memorial Fund, and The Edith Smilack Fund. Her work has been published in Hyperallergic, The Brooklyn Rail, and Front Runner Magazine.
Jasmine Wahi is a curator and cultural leader known for her intersectional approach to art and social justice. She is the Founder and Co-Director of Project for Empty Space, an organization committed to creating inclusive, equity-driven cultural spaces. Formerly the Holly Block Social Justice Curator at the Bronx Museum, Wahi’s curatorial work centers on amplifying marginalized voices and challenging institutional inequities. Her projects have been featured nationally, and she is a recipient of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Civic Leadership Award, recognizing her transformative impact in the arts and community engagement.