OKAY presents the first solo exhibition of River Cousin (they/them), a visual artist based in London. Using his primary tools, airbrush and digitizer (graphic tablet), he has been composing a body of work over the last six years on the topic of loss and grief that he has experienced. He completes the series the spring of 2023 with the personal edition of his homonym risography zine, "HALF LIFE" (which also contains his personal writings).

Grief functions for the artist as an invitation to the equestrian, the absurd, the spiritual, the inconceivable. Where there is an absence of religion, we are invited to write our own myths around death. "Half Life" borrows elements from our faith in science, human culture, pseudo-religious representations, and gives life to a personal story. Warped, isolated forms stand in as religious icons; twisted bodies and cloaked figures journey through barren landscapes. The artist's occult play with the numbers one through seven runs throughout the zine, becoming both an abstract idea of order in chaos and a testament to its spiritual and personal significance.

The title "Half Life" has a dual meaning for the artist. 'Half Life' as in to live a veiled existence of undefined grief, and 'Half Life' as used in physics: a predetermined length of time before an atom dies. One interpretation focuses on the abstract, while the second focuses on structure and record. One is a question, the other an answer. Both deal with loss, and both are interpretations that are elusive.

Solo show
River Cousin
 
Curation: OKAY initiative space
Edible Identity:  Nicole Gkoka

Thanks to
Fanni Kristyán, Giorgos Karabelas