Meet Jasper, the newest N+T team member!
Welcome, Jasper!
Imbued with deep admiration and concern for BIPOC, Latinx, Indigenous, and Queer Working Class artists, Jasper Sanchez joins Now + There as a Curatorial Fellow. We are thrilled to introduce this Bold, Open, Sharp (BOS) new team member whose commitment to spotlight and archive new, expansive art voices in Boston (and beyond!) helps sustain a collective legacy.
Born and raised in Miami, FL to Colombian-Venezuelan peoples dispossessed by the ever-shifting landscape of the Global South, Jasper found beauty, ecstasy, wonder, and liberation in the giant graffitied walls of Wynwood, South Beach, and the hot, serene grounds of the Miami Pérez Art Museum. His hurried coming-out journey served as an impetus for a second (and solo) migration from Miami to Boston, where Lesley University’s art history program further catalyzed Jasper’s interests toward immersive explorations, of existing and untapped pathways between applied arts and community building. Uninterested in feeding a gated and highly exclusionary art canon, Jasper Sanchez has turned his focus on celebrating the global heritage of young artists of color acting as nurturers of decolonized, regenerative environments where life happens in thriving ecosystems. During the pandemic, he joined the programming board of the Boston LGBTQIA+ Alliance (BLAA) and helped curate art experiences in and around Boston.
While interning at the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, as the first-ever Intern Curator, he continued to probe the public landscape for entry points at the intersection of social equity, relationships, art history, and to serve the replenishment of artistic contributions, communities, and peoples.
“I’m looking forward to helping N+T make Boston a public art city, and curating equitable and accessible art experiences.” Jasper Sanchez remains wholeheartedly diligent as he dreams of a world where liberation is possible for all. For him, art is a viable tool leading us to myriad ways of being, living, and experiencing the world as it undergoes various stages of disruption, disguise, and transition. He has most admired the artistic vision and narrative-inspired projects from N+T. “Mentoring Murals,” his favorite N+T art project, paired three groups of two artists together to engender collaboration rooted in friendship, shared history, and hopeful visions. This role as Curatorial Fellow is part of Jasper’s larger plan to stretch existing perspectives and develop engaging, real-world art applications that deepen our conversations about queerness, racism, and our sociological dispositions.
Say hello to jasper@nowandthere.org!
Image: Deeply Rooted in the NeighborHOOD: homage to Allan Rohan Crite, 2021 by Johnetta Thompson + Susan Tinker, photo by Faith Ninivaggi (c)