In this episode of The Truth In This Art, I sit down with Dessarae Bassil — contemporary artist, curator, educator, and co-founder and director of Moisturizer Gallery, a nomadic gallery she has run for almost nine years.

About Dessarae Bassil: Bassil is a champion of democratic curation, committed to ensuring all exhibitions feature fifty percent or higher marginalized voices to keep her shows discursive. She taught on the collegiate level for four years — first as a grad student, then continuing after — and describes her curation practice and her art practice as symbiotic. The curation of Moisturizer is always tangential to her own research and interests, so whatever the theme, it's something she's also exploring.

She shows more established artists alongside artists who have never been in a show before. The more voices in the room, the juicier the conversation gets — and if everyone in the room is the same, it's just not discursive.

At SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Moisturizer presented Girlhood Studies — inclusive, critical looks at themes, experiences, and socially constructed conceptions of girlhood, with work that plays with and breaks apart those conceptions. That show expanded into Girlhood Studies in the Expanded Field, now showing free at One Eyed Studio in New York.

Bassil talks about her MFA thesis exhibition Normal Sensations, what discursive curation looks like in practice, and running a nomadic gallery for almost nine years.

Find Moisturizer Gallery and Dessarae Bassil on Instagram at @moisturizergallery.

Photo credit: Courtesy of the subject.

The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore). 

Host: Rob Lee
Music: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.
Production: