ID Shop, 2014-2018
2016–2018
Legal advice | Randi Lee, Esq.
Revision | Alison Howard, Thomas Marks, Esq.
Logo design | Susie Han
Participants | Joseph/Jorie, Kiana, Sabrina (a.k.a.), John, Eugene, Carlos, Shaqasha, Christisha, Terry/Jade
Special thanks to Jonathan Gordon, LMSW, Monica Jihan Bose, Esq, Shevaun Wright, Esq, Sadia Shirazi.
2014–2015
Legal advice | Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq.
Legal research | Andrew Chan Kim, Esq.
Revision | Alison Howard, Thomas Marks, Esq.
Logo design | Susie Han
Participants | Jeff, Jetorey/Lauren, Joseph/Jorie
Special thanks to | Takako Oishi, Bianca Drew, LMSW, Miguel Angel De La Torre, Shevaun Wright, Esq.
ID Shop operated as an artist liaison between queer homeless immigrant youths and art institutions to help them apply for IDs issued by the state government. From 2014 to 2018, we provided letters of proof of residency and other legal aid to their youth participants.
Throughout the project, ID Shop sought to formalize relationships through contracts by enabling the participants to apply for identifications. The purpose of such contractual formalization is threefold. The first was structural: to triangulate relationships between Ka, an artist herself/themselves (“the Artist”), nonprofits (“the Organization”), and participants (“the Participants”) through agreements and waivers. The second was philosophical: to justify the definition of personhood in the law based on the Arendtian phenomenological conception—a legal personality was an artificial mask of law. In that sense, the project charted the philosophical misconception of personhood in the U.S. ID law system. The third was practical: to provide the opportunity for its participants to apply for ID cards by offering letters of proof of residency in partnership with art institutions. In this part, an art institution’s address functions as the primary residence of the participants (at least on their IDs), exposing the voids left by federal regulations and state policies, and reimagining how art institutions could interact with local queer and immigrant communities. ID Shop was thus a performative platform, benefiting members of marginalized ethnic and gender groups and re-examining the practices of hospitality to give comfort and make welcome the stranger-foreigner, the host must act; to resettle displaced people, a host nation must act.
Image: Installation view of ID Shop, welcome to what we took from is the state Exhibition, Queens Museum, New York City, 2016
ID Shop has been presented at multiple venues including the Queens Museum and HotWood Art Center and funded by More Art (2015-2016), Foundation of Contemporary Art Emergency Grants (2016), Awesome Foundation (2016), the Laundromat Project (2017), and individual donors.
