Kelly McCray

MFA, York University 2019 - 2021

Books and the Disappearing Body

The thesis questions technology through a queer perspective and advocates for human touch. The column in the gallery is constructed of used books and represents a combined surveillance tower and authoritative archive. The Reading Performance that takes place in the authoritative archive depicts the tension between technology, knowledge and the body through the VR platform. A stack of encyclopedias becomes the seat upon which the performance takes place. 

View the exhibition images below

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Kelly McCray has exhibited and curated extensively over the past 30 years. His steam portraits were exhibited at the Gladstone Hotel for the 10 x 10 Portrait Project and in 2015, the Stephen Bulger Gallery featured his photo-based Lens Krafter book project. His 2003 Ken Portraits series, was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) and in 2001, the Gnawts Project was exhibited in the Breath Taking show at Gallery TPW, for which he received the US - based Pollock-Krasner award.

Recent curatorial projects include the 2013 Rare & Raw show for the Leslie & Lohman Museum in New York as well as numerous Edward Day Gallery exhibitions. In 2016 He directed/curated the First Canadian Place Gallery and public lobby spaces from 2014 to 2019 and was co-founder of the Artists Protest Projects for the 2019 Nuit Blanche projection walls. 

Instagram: @kellymccray7590