Exploring the border-zones between fashion, performance, and contemporary art, Athi-Patra Ruga makes work that exposes and subverts the body in relation to structure, ideology, and politics. Bursting with eclectic multicultural references, carnal sensuality, and a dislocated undercurrent of humor, Ruga’s work creates a world where cultural identity is no longer determined by geographical origins, ancestry, or biological disposition, but is increasingly becoming a hybrid construct.

Athi-Patra has exhibited widely including recent exhibitions at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the 55th Venice Biennale, The Brass Artscape in Brussels, SFMOMA, the Tate Modern, and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Athi-Patra Ruga was also recently included in the Phaidon book Younger Than Jesus, a directory of over 500 of the world’s best artists under the age of 33.

Presented in conjunction with Athi-Patra’s Thursday, November 10 Penny W. Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series presentation at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor.  An additional event with Athi-Patra Ruga will take place at 7 pm on Friday, November 11 at Bona Sera (200 W Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti).