# @drawingcenter on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BxicxBolfwt
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16044678-drawingcenter-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/1f69b7d644.jpg
- **Posted:** 2019-05-16T21:20:06.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Drawing Center (@drawingcenter) — https://gondola.cc/drawingcenter

## Caption

"As If: Alternative Histories From Then To Now" is on view in our Lab Gallery and Corridor. Wed-Sun12pm-6pm | Thurs 12pm-8pm. The exhibition includes works in multiple mediums that offer examples of how we might reimagine historical narratives in order to contend with the traumas of contemporary life.

Ayé Aton was a Chicago based painter and visual artist who was creating work at the same time as Sun Ra was creating music. He collaborated with Sun Ra both visually and musically, and incorporated many of the motifs found in Sun Ra’s imagery into his own work, including space scenes and references to Ancient Egypt. Aton was particularly known for interior murals, executed in vibrant colors. "In the realm of personal mythology, creating an alternative history can be a path toward liberation from discrimination. In the 1930s, Sun Ra claimed to have experienced teleportation to the planet Saturn—an experience that marked him, for the rest of his life, as a visitor from that distant planet who sought to liberate black people from the confines of earth. Sun Ra’s mythology shaped his musical performances, album art, and overall persona. Crucially, it also provided a potentially positive alternative to the racial strife of twentieth-century America. As an interstellar visitor, Sun Ra wasn’t subject to racial violence—he was someone, from somewhere, else."-Curator Giampaolo Bianconi on Sun Ra in his “As If” zine essay available for free at our front desk

#AlternativeHistories #AyéAton #SunRa

Image: Ayé Aton, "Untitled", 1963. Acrylic on paper, Collection of John Corbett and Terri Kapsalis.

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## Tags

sunra, ayéaton, alternativehistories

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