Martine Syms, The Queen’s English (image martinesyms.com)

Big City Forum (BCF) is currently occupying the mezzanine space at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA. They will be curating three Reading Room / Libraries during their 6 month residency, City of Hope, City of Resistance: Research and Actions on the Urban Level, along with a series of coinciding events in the space.

The first of the Reading Room / Library Projects features the work of L.A. based artist Martine Syms, whose exhibition The Queen’s English is on view until August 31st. According to Syms, the exhibition and reading room, “…is inspired by the distribution of information within black feminist communities in the 1970s. Through researching, collecting, archiving, and remembering, the project enacts the ways that knowledge circulates within subcultures, forging an intergenerational dialogue about language and representation.” The exhibition features posters of protest messages, prints of photographs taken by Cat Roif, and a curated library of “pulp paperback novels, biographies, and chapbooks.” 

The Reading Room space is furnished with benches and tables designed by Jeff Cain.

Martine Syms, The Queen’s English (image martinesyms.com)

Martine Syms, The Queen’s English (image martinesyms.com)

Martine Syms, The Queen’s English (image martinesyms.com)

Jeff Cain