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CONFERENCE CANCELLED.

We regret to inform you that ARLIS/NA will not be holding its 48th Annual Conference in St. Louis, MO because of the serious health risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
avatar for Kevin Talmer Whiteneir Jr.

Kevin Talmer Whiteneir Jr.

Ryerson and Burnham Library and Archives, Research Center, The Art Institute of Chicago
Senior Library Assistant
Kevin Whiteneir Jr. is an interdisciplinary artist and art historian whose work discusses the relationships between gender and queer experiences as they relate to race, the effects of (neo)colonialism, and its parallels with performance, ritual, religion, and witchcraft. Whiteneir holds a Master's Degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory, and Criticism and a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History and Anthropology from Ripon College.
In addition to developing the ongoing art critique space and workshop Craft in Chicago, he currently works as a project assistant for Black Lunch Table. BLT intends to fill holes in the documentation of contemporary art history. Alongside Jina Valentine and Heather Hart, BLT's aim is to produce discursive sites, at literal and metaphorical lunch tables, wherein cultural producers of color engage in critical dialogue on topics directly affecting our communities. They endeavor to create spaces, online and off, mirroring the activity and creativity present in sites where Blackness and Art are performed. 
As a performance artist, Whiteneir designs and enacts performative rituals that draw upon historic and contemporary manifestations of magical practices and the occult while illuminating their parallels with queer identities and experiences. These rituals comment upon the consequences of colonialism that continue to impact contemporary communities, manifesting desire and intention through choreographed figurative ceremonies, and experiences of the queer body as both originator and receptacle of action, speech, and other modes of communication. His creative writing practice utilizes the mythology of historic witchcraft to create fictions set within a contemporary setting which propose reflection, introspection, and methods of addressing anxieties of the present-day.
Whiteneir's work as a scholar has presented internationally and is published in various conference proceedings and journals. He has published twice on the artistry of the iconic figure Prince (Rogers Nelson) and continues to produce lectures, workshops, and exhibitions on issues of gender, sexuality, ritual, colonialism, and art as remedy.