QIANA MESTRICH

︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎

PROJECTS
︎︎︎ The Reinforcements
︎︎︎ @WorkingWOC
︎︎︎ THRALL
︎︎︎ The Black Doll
︎︎︎ Namesake
︎︎︎ Inherited Patterns
︎︎︎ The Mist in Mystic
︎︎︎ Tenderheaded
︎︎︎ Bloodlines
︎︎︎ Trust Your Struggle

BOOKS + ZINES
︎︎︎ (up)rooted
︎︎︎ Dodge & Burn
︎︎︎ TOPSY TURVY
︎︎︎ Hard To Place
︎︎︎ Some Kind of War
︎︎︎ History of the World
︎︎︎ Indivisible

INSTALLATIONS
︎︎︎NYPL 
︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎︎

︎ News + Events
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(up)rooted zine

(2024)




On the occaision of her photobook signing for her latest publication, This Train (MACK, 2024), Justine Kurland curated and Dashwood published this series of six limited edition zines with artists on the subject of Motherhood. The Mother zine series were printed in an edition of 100 copies, 20pp staple bound color and were sold with an obi band along with This Train. The zines and Kurland’s book are now sold out.

The Mother zine series included: Family Table by Elizabeth Pedinotti Haynes, My Minky by Jacky Marshall, (up)rooted by Qiana Mestrich, Ouroboros by Jacquelyne Pierson, env-IRON-ment by Júlia Pontés, and Origin by Gwen Smith.

The Dodge & Burn Book

(Coming Soon) 


Community building is a vital part of my practice. In 2007 I founded Dodge & Burn: Decolonizing Photography History (est. 2007), an arts education initiative addressing questions of race and inequality in photography. I’m currently editing a book based on the blog’s past interviews with photographers of color is to be published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis - STAY TUNED!

Dodge & Burn began as a blog and from 2013-2022 functioned as a monthly critique group hosted in NYC and virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. SIGN UP to receive future email updates about the critique group.

TOPSY TURVY zine

(2022)




About this Publication


TOPSY TURVY (2022) is a limited-edition zine that presents the second installment of The Black Doll series, a collection of non-gestural, digital images rooted in the aesthetic tradition of geometric abstraction. Appropriating original imagery of vintage black dolls for sale on Etsy and eBay, I have abstracted the dolls beyond recognition and paired them with their often-racialized item descriptions.

This new series is inspired by the two-headed, reversible, “topsy turvy” cloth dolls invented and handmade by enslaved African-American women for their children. One face of the doll was a White, European-American child, while the other was a Black, African-American child - both were sewn together in the middle with a long skirt. This unique design ensured that during play, the doll could be “flipped” from one side to another.

While the purpose of these dolls is still misunderstood, it is believed that this topsy turvy design enabled enslaved children to play with toys made in their image which could then easily be hidden (by playing with the white doll) around white folks. The Topsy Turvy series presents a wide collection of racialized vintage dolls from the 19th and 20th centuries and continues to explore how whiteness in America is forever linked to its black counterpart, and vice versa.

Order online at Stellazine


IDEOLOGIES

(RAY 2021 Exhibition Catalog)




About this Publication 


ORDER: The RAY 2021 IDEOLOGIES catalog published by Kehrer Verlag.

What lies behind ideologies? How do differ­ent philosophies of life, political theories and other Values develop? How do they seem to others? And to what extent do they support power, manipulation, abuse, exclusion and exploitation in a wide variety of differ­ent societies?

In this publication, accompanying the fourth international Triennial of photographic arts in Frankfurt/Rhine­Main, artists like Máté Bartha, Johanna Diehl, Yves Sambu, Ja'Tovia Gary, and others use their work to reveal ideologies in the past and present. They demonstrate how ideologies have been expressed over the time and whether there are differences or not. Renowned authors further expand the dis­cussion of this very current topic with their essay contributions.

Artists: Nicole Ahland, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Máté Bartha, Johanna Diehl, Yagazie Emezi, Friedrich Robert Otto Emmel, Sibylle Fendt, Ja'Tovia Gary, Eddo Hartmann, Nini und Carry Hess, Marta Hoepffner, Paula Markert, Eva und Franco Mattes, Qiana Mestrich, Lee Miller, Mohau Modisakeng, Hilde Roth, Yves Sambu, Adrian Sauer, Salvatore Vitale

Authors: Anne-Marie Beckmann, Max Czollek, Ralf Dingeldein, Janine Drewes, Kémi Fátoba, Rainer Forst, Valentine Goldmann, Elke Gruhn, Beate Kemfert, Eckhardt Köhn, Franziska Kunze, Christina Leber, Alexandra Lechner, Dorothee Linnemann, Celina Lunsford, Dietmar Mezler, Susanne Pfeffer, Yasmina Price, Julia Reichelt, Anna Sailer, Wolfgang Ullrich, Matthias Wagner K, Susanne Wartenberg

The Body Issue

(Femxphotographers Photobook) 





About this Publication


“THE BODY ISSUE” published by Hatje Cantz


A visual dialogue about bodies and how they are perceived in media has been undertaken by the femalephotographers.org collective. As the group’s first publication, The Body Issue addresses the depiction of bodies and the perception of them; at the same time, it also launches a series of photo books.

femalephotographers.org is a new collective that I am a part of that is dedicated to regularly publishing photography books devoted to issues, while also organizing companion exhibitions under its own direction. The goal is to increase the visibility of female photographers, since women are still underrepresented in the art world.

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Bex Day, Haley Morris-Cafiero, Katharina Bosse, Maggie Steber, Meklit Fekadu, Jennifer Greenburg, Jocelyn Lee, Lilly Urbat, Kirsten Becken, Claudia Holzinger, Jessica Barthel, Caro Siegl, Oriana Layendecker, Nora Lowinsky, Hanna Mattes, Veronika Faustmann, Katya Abedian, Paula Winkler, Marzena Skubatz, Qiana Mestrich

GUEST ARTISTS
Brandy Eve Allen, Brittney Cathey-Adams, Mary Chen, Tamara Dean, Yushi Li, Dita Pepe, Lotte van Raalte, Laurie Simmons, Chanell Stone

︎ BUY this book at or via The DAP Catalog.



“THE BODY ISSUE” 2021 Calendar 




Available for purchase via Etsy.

Featured Artists:
Bex Day, Haley Morris-Cafiero, Katharina Bosse, Maggie Steber, Meklit Fekadu, Jennifer Greenburg, Jocelyn Lee, Lilly Urbat, Kirsten Becken, Claudia Holzinger, Jessica Barthel, Caro Siegl, Oriana Layendecker, Nora Lowinsky, Hanna Mattes, Veronika Faustmann, Katya Abedian, Paula Winkler, Marzena Skubatz, Qiana Mestrich