Beirut Youth – Los Angeles

February 22 - March 18th, 2018

Opening Reception :
Thursday, February 22, 2018, 6 – 10pm
rsvp@hvw8.com

HVW8 Gallery is pleased to announce Beirut Youth, an immersive multimedia installation of Jey Perie and Gogy Esparza’s experiences while in Beirut, Lebanon.

The duo arrived in August 2016 with little more than a tentative plan to recount the lives of the city’s youth, from the affluent to the disenfranchised. Honest, raw and sensitive, the exhibition crystallizes the emotion they felt there, and in its people. The beauty and blood of its pulse, the pain and fruits of its history. Though war-torn and fractured, the juxtaposition of such diversity in cultures, religions and opinions breeds its chaos, seductively, beautifully, the way only a Beruti enchantress could.

Esparza photographed these images exclusively on 35mm film in August 2016, and on a second trip in March 2017 (over a total of 20 days). He also shot digital video and constructed four short films on their experiences.

Beirut Youth has created physical extensions of the project via its photography book including all exhibition images, and a tee shirt commemorating the history and culture of the city. 50% of proceeds from these sales will be donated directly to Shatila Refugee Camp’s CYC Youth Center in Southern Beirut. Initially set-up in 1949 for displaced Palestinians, the camp is also home for over 6,000 Syrian Refugees since the start of the 2011 Syrian Civil War. Donations will go towards providing CYC’s children with educational materials, stationary, uniforms and sneakers for the center’s youth football program.

Direct donations can also be made through the project’s GoFundMe link found at the project’s site: www.beirutyouth.com

After premiering in New York City in June 2017, the Beirut Youth exhibition traveled to Dubai and Tokyo before its upcoming debut in Los Angeles.

Gogy Esparza

(b. 1987) is a New York City-based artist who concentrates in fine art, photography, and video.

His project, El Vacîo (2012-13) featured a photography book published by Dashwood Books, and accompanying exhibitions with Comme Des Garçons in Berlin and the Wayward Gallery in London. He has also exhibited at Test Gallery (Copenhagen), SO Gallery (Tokyo), NO ROMANCE Gallery (NYC), Know-Wave Gallery (NYC), AUTO BODY (NYC/MIAMI).

He and his work have been featured in publications such as ARTFORUM, Purple Diary, Interview, Richardson Magazine, VICE Creators Project, i-D, Dazed, Ollie, and Hypebeast.

Jey Perie

Born in the south of France in 1984, Jey has lived in Barcelona, Hong Kong and Tokyo for extended periods and now resides in New York. His network of friends and partners sprawl far and wide, with roots in all corners of culture.

His passion for travel and the exchange of cultures is what drives his curiosity. As the Creative Director of Kinfolk, Jey uses his travel to influence and guide his work. He also consults for several Japanese labels including BEDWIN & THE HEARTBREAKERS, and has helped expand the brand’s presence outside of Japan with global collaborations such as Converse, adidas Originals and Stussy.

He currently directs The Kinfolk Store and their in-house label. Over the last decade Jey Perie has been credited for introducing several cult Japanese labels to the US market and also for his work around soccer and the sport’s relationship with Fashion. To that regard, he is currently working alongside soccer institution FC Barcelona, Nike, adidas and Stone Island to promote soccer culture in the US.

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